Clinical trials, medical studies performed on people, are held to high standards. The researchers running them endeavour to include a diverse group of participants, both men and women. Trial participants are randomly assigned to the treatments being compared, and trial staff measuring the outcomes...
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As many as one in eight people don’t know they have prediabetes and are on the path to developing diabetes. Of Canadian adults, that is nearly 3.5 million people. Both prediabetes and diabetes are important contributors to heart disease. The findings, published recently in the American Journal of...
The health benefits of regular physical activity are well documented and hard to overstate, but too often they are left out of the doctor–patient conversation. In December 2015, JAMA, the Journal of the American Medical Association, published the Viewpoint “ Making Physical Activity Counseling a...
Despite major advances in technology and treatment over the past several decades, cardiovascular disease is still the leading cause of death in the world. In fact, cardiovascular illness has continued to increase at an epidemic rate globally despite a general reduction in age-related mortality over...
2025 Summit program
Heart health begins at home and in the everyday care of the family doctor. Our care activities are designed to empower women to manage their own health with confidence, while also supporting their primary care providers with information and training. The Canadian Women’s Heart Health Centre is working to improve care both locally and nationally by developing personalized, one-on-one programs as well as digital educational tools.
One thing we know about women’s hearts is that they are different. Gender differences have been identified in the recognition, treatment and recovery from heart disease related illness, but there are anatomical differences that can affect a woman’s recovery from cardiac surgery. One post-surgical...
Drugs and devices approved for the Canadian market must undergo extensive clinical testing to prove their safety and effectiveness. But even the best-designed clinical trials are limited in the time they can follow patients and how closely their participants resemble the general population. Once a...
When Robert Roberts, MD, joined the University of Ottawa Heart Institute as President and CEO in 2004, he came with a mandate: establish the Institute as a world leader in cardiovascular genetics research. “Over the past 50 or so years, the data have been pretty consistent that somewhere around 50...
The American Heart Association and the American Stroke Association have named the RAFT trial among the top 10 research advances in heart disease in 2010. Led by the University of Ottawa Heart Institute, RAFT showed cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT) is effective in reducing the risk for death...
Few health challenges are as well-publicized as high blood pressure, a topic that has become all too familiar, appearing everywhere from the daily news to medical conferences. And being so familiar, it is easy to overlook the fact that most of this attention has been devoted to a problem that stems...
It takes years and years of training to become a doctor, nurse or any other healthcare practitioner. It takes years and years more to master the skills demanded of those occupations. The truth about a career in medicine is no matter the specialty, learning continues long after the graduation caps...
Blood Test Identifies Those at Risk for Heart Attack Knowing an individual’s specific risk of heart attack could significantly impact his or her medical care as well as willingness to adopt a healthier lifestyle. A blood test now available in the United States has been shown to do just that. The...
To coincide with coverage of the Canadian Women’s Heart Health Summit, this edition of “Rapids Beats” is dedicated to news related to women and heart disease. Why Women Are Less Likely to Receive Statin Therapy Statin drugs, which lower cholesterol, are equally effective in men and women at...
A pillar in the world of cardiovascular nuclear medicine, Dr. Ruddy said: “People make all the difference.”
The holiday season has come and gone. So, while we’re still honouring our New Year, New Me mantra, lets revisit our most popular stories from last year. Health podcast helps listeners be “heart-wise” It’s March 2021: The Heart Institute’s Division of Cardiac Prevention and Rehabilitation releases...
As commentaries on radiation go, Peter Parker likely summed it up best: “With great power comes great responsibility.” Although no one at the University of Ottawa Heart Institute has had to deal with the complications of acquiring superpowers from a radioactive spider, the staff is profoundly aware...
The 9p21 risk variant is the strongest known common genetic risk factor for heart disease in Caucasians and Asians. Beginning with the discovery of 9p21 in 2007, studies have consistently shown that having one copy of a genetic variation in 9p21 increases a person’s risk of heart disease by 15 to 20...
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Heart disease is the leading cause of premature death for women in Canada. When it comes to heart disease, women are under-studied, under-diagnosed, under-treated, under-supported and under-aware. Women themselves tend to under-estimate the risk of dying or becoming seriously unwell due to heart disease.