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THURSDAY, Nov. 12, 2020 (HealthDay News) -- Many transgender people who take hormone therapy have unaddressed risks for heart disease and stroke, a new study finds.These patients often have undiagnosed high blood pressure and high cholesterol, even in young adulthood, researchers found."Previous research has shown that transgender individuals are less likely to have access to health care or to utilize health care for a variety of reasons, including stigma and fear of mistreatment," said researcher Dr. Kara Denby, a clinical fellow in cardiovascular medicine at the Cleveland Clinic."Since transgender individuals have frequent physician visits while taking hormone therapy, this seems an opportune time to screen for cardiovascular risk factors and treat previously undiagnosed...

THURSDAY, Nov. 12, 2020 (HealthDay News) -- More green space can reduce air pollution, improve air quality and maybe lower the risk for heart disease deaths, a new study suggests."We found that both increased greenness and increased air quality were associated with fewer deaths from heart disease," said researcher Dr. William Aitken, a cardiology fellow with the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine.Greenness is a measure of trees, shrubs and grass assessed by NASA imaging of the Earth and other methods. For this study, the researchers used the Normalized Difference Vegetative Index, which measures wavelengths of visible and near-infrared sunlight reflected from the Earth's surface by NASA satellite imagery.The research team measured greenness by county across the United States...

THURSDAY, Nov. 12, 2020 (HealthDay News) -- Isolation may pose mental health challenges for people as they spend more time indoors in the winter during the coronavirus pandemic, an expert warns.Maintaining safe forms of social contact is crucial, especially for people who live alone, according to Frank Ghinassi, president and CEO of Rutgers University Behavioral Health Care, in New Jersey.Ideas to battle isolation include staying in touch with family and friends over social media, through video or over the phone, or even sharing a cup of coffee with someone over the phone in the morning.Write letters. Sending and receiving them can be very rewarding, Ghinassi suggested.If you live with others, do activities together such as board games or listen to audio broadcasts, rather than watch...

THURSDAY, Nov. 12, 2020 (American Heart Association News) -- The risk of heart attack is significantly higher in people with PTSD or traumatic brain injury, a new study of U.S. veterans shows.Past studies have found post-traumatic stress disorder is a risk factor for heart disease and stroke. Veterans have disproportionately high rates for PTSD as well as traumatic brain injury, the so-called signature injury of the U.S. wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Estimates show up to 23% of veterans in those wars suffered a traumatic brain injury, or TBI, many of which were caused by land mines.In the new study, researchers from Kansas City VA Medical Center looked at data from 1998 to 2014 for more than 1 million veterans, many of whom had served in the Gulf War or the Iraq and Afghanistan...