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FRIDAY, May 7, 2021 (HealthDay News) -- Air pollution isn't hard on the hearts of adults only, suggests a new analysis that found it can raise blood pressure in kids as young as 5.Children experienced increases in blood pressure if they had short-term exposure to air polluted with coarser particles or long-term exposure to finer airborne particles, and that also happened with long-term exposure to nitrogen dioxide, an air pollutant mainly emitted from traffic exhaust, the Chinese researchers found."It's not surprising in the sense that we have been concerned about air pollution having an effect on cardiovascular disease," said Dr. Richard Kovacs, clinical director of the Krannert Institute of Cardiology at the Indiana University School of Medicine, in Indianapolis. "What's surprising...

FRIDAY, May 7, 2021 (HealthDay News) -- Chronic kidney disease may carry an increased risk of dementia, according to a Swedish study.In people with chronic kidney disease, the bean-shaped organs gradually lose their ability to filter waste from the blood and eliminate fluids."Even a mild reduction in kidney function has been linked to an increased risk of cardiovascular disease and infections, and there is growing evidence of a relationship between the kidneys and the brain," said study author Dr. Hong Xu, a postdoctoral researcher at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm.For the study, her team analyzed health data from nearly 330,000 older people in Stockholm. None had dementia or had undergone kidney transplants or dialysis when the study began.During an average five-year follow-up,...

FRIDAY, May 7, 2021 (HealthDay News) -- A bit of booze may help protect your heart by reducing stress-related brain activity, a new study suggests."The thought is that moderate amounts of alcohol may have effects on the brain that can help you relax, reduce stress levels and, perhaps through these mechanisms, lower the incidence of cardiovascular disease," said lead author Dr. Kenechukwu Mezue, a nuclear cardiology fellow at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston.His team analyzed data on more than 53,000 people in their late 50s, and more than 750 of them had brain scans to detect stress-related activity.Overall, 15% of participants had a major heart event such as a stroke or heart attack. That included 17% of those with low self-reported alcohol consumption (one drink a week or...

FRIDAY, May 7, 2021 (HealthDay News) -- Poor mental health after a heart attack may increase young and middle-aged adults' risk of another heart attack or death a few years later, a new study suggests.The study included 283 heart attack survivors, aged 18 to 61 with an average age of 51, who completed questionnaires that assessed depression, anxiety, anger, stress and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) within six months of their heart attack.Based on this information, the researchers ranked the study participants as having mild, moderate or high mental distress.Within five years after their heart attack, 80 of the 283 patients had another heart attack or a stroke, were hospitalized for heart failure or died from heart-related causes, the findings showed.Rates of such outcomes were...