Heart Disease Archive

For some people with atrial fibrillation, cold drinks and foods can trigger a bout of the rapid, irregular heartbeat that characterizes the disorder. Avoiding those triggers nearly always prevents this phenomenon, dubbed “cold drink heart.”

A 2025 review found the people who walked 7,000 steps per day had a 25% lower of cardiovascular disease and a 47% lower risk of death from all causes compared to people who walked only 2,000 steps per day.

Imaging tests such as chest CT scans and mammograms, which can detect calcium deposits in arteries, can provide information about a person’s cardiovascular health. These so-called incidental findings—when a medical test discovers something unrelated to the original purpose of the test—have become increasingly common in recent years. With a chest CT, calcifications are grouped into four categories: none, mild, moderate, or severe. That’s often enough for a cardiologist to make a solid decision about whether to maintain or intensify a person’s drug treatment to prevent heart disease progression.

A 2025 study found that people who had received a shingles vaccination had lower risks for stroke and various types of heart disease, including heart failure and heart attacks, compared with people who didn’t receive a shingles vaccine.

A 2025 analysis of randomized trials found that cardiac rehab—a personalized program of supervised exercise and healthy lifestyle coaching—can also help people with atrial fibrillation, an irregular heartbeat that can cause stroke and heart failure.

The association between alcohol and cardiovascular disease is both complex and controversial. There’s no evidence of an increased risk for the most common forms of heart disease in people who stay within the limits for moderate drinking. Whether light to moderate drinking can lower a person’s risk is impossible to answer with currently available evidence. But there is clear, consistent evidence that heavier drinking—an average of three or more drinks per day—is linked to worse outcomes for every type of heart disease.

Getting vaccinated against influenza (flu), COVID-19, and pneumonia is especially important for people who have cardiovascular disease. The coughing and congestion that commonly occur with respiratory infections can make breathing more difficult, and the potential drop in oxygen puts added stress on the heart. Serious infections sometimes trigger sepsis, which happens when the immune system is overwhelmed or goes into overdrive, causing symptoms such as a rapid heart rate, very fast breathing, and low blood pressure. These complications can lead to a heart attack.

An inexpensive blood test that checks for a genetic variant of Lp(a)—a fatty particle similar to LDL cholesterol—may help clarify who might benefit from a daily low-dose aspirin, according to a 2025 review of study findings.

According to a 2025 study, people living near coastlines with high levels of marine microplastics had higher rates of heart disease than those living close to coastlines with less plastic pollution.

Growing numbers of people have microvascular disease, which is caused by problems in the network of tiny blood vessels in the heart rather than blockages in the heart’s major arteries. Evidence for this trend comes from large studies using diagnostic imaging tests coupled with heart disease registry data. Experts believe today’s higher rates of obesity, diabetes, high blood pressure, and chronic kidney disease is changing how cardiovascular disease is manifested.