AP

Women’s life expectancy declined significantly in 180 U.S. counties, mostly in the deep South and Appalachia, between 1983 and 1999, according to a study being released Tuesday.

Researchers blamed the decrease in women’s life expectancy on high blood pressure as well as chronic diseases related to smoking and obesity, such as lung cancer and diabetes.

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By Amanda Gardner
EmpowHer's HealthDay Reporter

MONDAY, March 31 (HealthDay News) -- A large trial shows that combining an ACE inhibitor with a calcium channel blocker in individuals with high blood pressure who are at high risk for cardiovascular complications resulted in a 20 percent reduction in the risks of death, heart attack, stroke and other cardiovascular troubles.

By Steven Reinberg
EmpowHer's HealthDay Reporter

MONDAY, March 31 (HealthDay News) -- Despite some doctors' reluctance to do so, a new study finds that treating high blood pressure in patients 80 age and older can reduce the rate of stroke, heart failure and death from cardiovascular disease.

By Ed Edelson
EmpowHer's HealthDay Reporter

MONDAY, March 31 (HealthDay News) -- Treatment with an ACE inhibitor drug was as effective in reducing deaths, heart attacks and stroke in a high-risk group of patients as a newer and more expensive angiotensin-receptor blocker (ARB) drug, a large international study has found.

By Ed Edelson
EmpowHer's HealthDay Reporter

MONDAY, March 24 (HealthDay News) -- A 54-year study has solidified the link between parents' high blood pressure and the chances their children will develop this significant risk factor for cardiovascular disease.

THURSDAY, March 6 (HealthDay News) -- Smoking boosts the increased risk of a hemorrhagic stroke already faced by people with high blood pressure, researchers say.

Patients with chronic health problems who play a major role in their medical treatment may have poorer outcomes than patients who defer to their doctors, suggests a U.S. study that tracked 189 hypertension patients for 12 months.

MONDAY, Feb. 25 (HealthDay News) -- Exposure to viral infection -- especially herpes viruses -- may be associated with high blood pressure during pregnancy and preterm birth, Australian researchers report.

According to the Lupus Research Institute (LRI), there is a connection between lupus and heart disease that young women need to be alerted to. Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is a chronic autoimmune disease that affects more than one million American women and causes the body to make antibodies against itself, can be very serious and life-threatening - emphasis on "can." I have lupus, but no history of heart disease or indication thereof, so far. Knock on my wooden head!