CARDIOVASCULAR WELLNESS- HEART HEALTH AND BLOOD PRESSURE

KEY
	Community/Support
	Interactive
	Video

THE BASICS

• American Heart Association: Health information on cardiovascular health and stroke topics
• National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute: Electronic resources on blood, sleep disorders, and diseases of the heart, blood vessels, lung, and blood
• What is CAD?: Information on Coronary Artery Disease including causes, risk factors, prevention, signs & symptoms, diagnosis, and treatment. Provides helpful visual aids as well as links to more information on the web.
• Symptoms of heart attack and stroke: The American Heart Association and the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute have launched a new "Act in Time" campaign to increase people's awareness of heart attack and the importance of calling 9-1-1 immediately at the onset of heart attack symptoms.
• Heart Valve problems Comprehensive overview from InteliHealth including an explanation of the different types heart valve problems, symptoms, diagnosis, prevention, treatment, instructions on when to call a professional, and prognosis. (And find even more resources on valve disorders at  MedlinePlus)
• The American Heart Association website also has an extensive section on Peripheral Artery Disease (PAD)
• Learn more about Stress Testing with this MedlinePlus interactive module
• Understanding the High-Sensitivity C-reactive protein (hs-CRP) test: Explains the purpose of the test in plain language and provides reference ranges and their significance.  
• Learn all about Hypertension (High Blood Pressure) from MedlinePlus; includes tips on prevention.
• High Blood Pressure and Kidney Disease: The kidneys play a key role in keeping a person’s blood pressure in a healthy range, and blood pressure, in turn, can affect the health of the kidneys. High blood pressure, also called hypertension, can damage the kidneys and lead to chronic kidney disease (CKD).
• High Blood Pressure and Stroke: High blood pressure is a major risk factor for stroke. About 780,000 Americans will have a new or recurrent stroke this year — and about 150,000 of them will die. Stroke is the No. 3 cause of death in the U.S. It’s also a leading cause of serious, long-term disability. Many people mistakenly think of stroke as an "old person’s disease." But thousands of strokes occur in people under age 65. 
• Chronic Venous Insufficiency: The Society for Vascular Surgery has a helpful webpage on CVI, which includes information on causes, symptoms, testing, and treatment.

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RISK FACTORS & PREVENTION

• AHA's Diet & Lifestyle Recommendations: A healthy diet and lifestyle are your best weapons to fight cardiovascular disease. It’s not as hard as you may think!  Remember, it's the overall pattern of your choices that counts. Make these simple steps part of your life for long-term benefits to your health and your heart.
• Risk Factors for Heart Disease: Discusses both inherited risk factors that can’t be changed and the numerous risk factors that can be addressed and diminished through lifestyle modifications.
• Predicting Heart Disease: It's estimated that 70-million Americans have at least one form of heart disease. Experts have a way to identify the youngest at risk.
• For Your Heart: Provides women with a personalized series of articles detailing the latest information on exercise, nutrition, smoking, diabetes, cholesterol, high blood pressure and other factors that affect women and their risk for heart disease - all tailored to meet the needs of each individual
• Risk Factors for Hypertension: High blood pressure has many risk factors. Some you can't control, but many you can.
• High Blood Pressure Health Risk Calculator: Enter your blood pressure numbers to: Understand your health risks, get quick answers to common questions about blood pressure, learn how lifestyle changes can lower blood pressure and your health risks, and get a printout to use at your next doctor's appointment.
• Latino Cardiovascular Health Resources offers bilingual patient information and heart-healthy Latino recipes.
• National Women's Health Information Center: Women can find information written especially for them on the NHLBI website.
• High blood pressure in African-Americans: African-Americans are most likely to develop high blood pressure than any other racial or ethnic group.
• Can Cardiovascular Disease Be Prevented?: Heart Disease Prevention, and other valuable cardio health information.
• Women and Heart Disease: Prevention and Risk Factors: The causes of heart disease start early. It's important to know your risk factors, and what you can do to prevent heart disease.
• Heart Health Community Site: Blog posts, discussion boards, news, images, and videos on heart health.

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MEDICATIONS & TREATMENT

• High Blood Pressure Heart Profiler: The American Heart Association has interactive tools that can help you participate in decisions about your blood pressure treatment.
• Blood-Pressure Lowering Drugs: Gives general information on BP meds including ACE inhibitors, beta-blockers, calcium channel blockers and more.
• Heart medications: Sometimes, medications may be needed to help prevent or control coronary heart disease (CHD) and so reduce the risk of a first or repeat heart attack. But, if medications are needed, lifestyle changes still must be undertaken.
• Your Guide to Lowering High Blood Pressure: Includes information on detection, prevention, and treatment, plus a special section on women’s issues.

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