Tip Highlights:
- Color-coded syringe eliminates dosing errors, saves time during pediatric resuscitation
- Recurrent fainting associated with taking multiple medications
- Young adults less likely to recognize heart-related chest pain; women delay seeking care
- Middle-aged men with reduced lung function at higher risk for sudden cardiac death
- Insomnia linked to increased risk of heart attack, stroke
LOS ANGELES, Nov. 4, 2012 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) --
NOTE ALL TIMES ARE PACIFIC. ALL TIPS ARE EMBARGOED UNTIL THE TIME OF PRESENTATION OR 3 P.M. PT/ 6 P.M. ET EACH DAY, WHICHEVER COMES FIRST. For more information Nov. 3-7, call the AHA News Media Staff Office at the Los Angeles Convention Center: (213) 743-6205. Before or after these dates, call the Communications Office in Dallas at (214) 706-1173. For public inquiries, call (800) AHA-USA1 (242-8721).
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RESS Abstract LBRS-358 (Gold Ballroom, JW Marriott at LA Live)
Color-coded syringe eliminates dosing errors, saves time during pediatric resuscitation
A color-coded syringe can shave critical time off resuscitation attempts in children and eliminate medication mistakes, according to a study presented at the American Heart Association's Scientific Sessions 2012.
Researchers compared the effects of a prefilled, color-coded syringe to manual preparation of several medications during two simulations of pediatric cardiac arrest.
Two groups participated in the simulations: 10 emergency room nurses and physicians (ER group) and 10 emergency medical technicians and paramedics (pre-hospital group). Researchers measured the time each group took to prepare medication and the percentage of major medication mistakes. Giving more than 10 percent above or below the recommended dose per patient weight was considered a critical dosing error.
The median time to prepare the prefilled, color-coded syringe compared to the manually prepared medication was 18.5 seconds vs. 46.5 seconds in the ER group and 33.8 seconds vs. 42.3 seconds in the pre-hospital group.
Neither group made critical dosing errors with the color-coded syringe. But when using the manual preparation, errors occurred in 17 percent of dosing by the ER group and 37 percent of dosing by the pre-hospital group.
Furthermore, the time to prepare patients to have a breathing tube inserted by the ER group dropped from 94.5 seconds with manual medication to 34.8 seconds with the color-coded syringe.
EMBARGO: 3 p.m. PT/ 6 p.m. ET
Abstract 11857 (Kentia Hall)
Recurrent fainting associated with taking multiple medications
Recurrent fainting is often associated with taking several medications at once, according to a Denmark study presented at the American Heart Association's Scientific Sessions 2012.
Researchers investigated drugs known to cause orthostatic hypotension (blood pressure drops rapidly when moving from lying down to standing up), such as alpha blockers (for hypertrophic prostate), beta blockers, diuretics, calcium channel blockers, ACE inhibitors, etc.
They examined 127,508 patients, median age 64, hospitalized with fainting in 1997-2009. Of those patients, 22.5 percent had at least one recurrent fainting episode. The risk of recurrent fainting increased the more medications people took simultaneously.
Compared to patients who took no drugs, recurrent fainting was:
- 16 percent more likely for those who took one drug;
- 20 percent more likely for two; and
- 32 percent for three or more.
Rescheduling medication doses could help patients in the long term, researchers said.
EMBARGO: 3 p.m. PT/ 6 p.m. ET
Abstract 17831 (Kentia Hall)
Young adults less likely to recognize heart-related chest pain; women delay seeking care
Young adults are less likely to attribute chest pain to heart-related problems, according to a study presented at the American Heart Association's Scientific Sessions 2012.
However, more women than men reported waiting more than a day to seek care. Both genders reported seeking care because their symptoms weren't going away, but women were less likely to seek care because of concern about heart disease.
Researchers studied 2,990 heart attack patients, ages 18 to 55, from 104 U.S. hospitals in 2008-12. Based on direct patient interviews, the vast majority of women and men (90 percent of men and 87 percent of women) experienced chest pain, pressure, tightness or discomfort with their acute heart attack. Patient interviews also revealed:
- Almost one in three women and one in five men visited their doctor for symptoms before their hospitalizations.
- Women were less likely than men to be told by healthcare providers that their symptoms might be heart related, or to recall discussing heart disease with their doctors.
- Almost 60 percent of the men and women thought their symptoms were not heart related. Women commonly cited indigestion, stress or anxiety; men reported indigestion or muscle pain.
While young men and women predominantly present with chest pain, young women more commonly misattribute their symptoms to a non-cardiac cause.
EMBARGO: 3 p.m. PT/ 6 p.m. ET
Abstract 13900 (Kentia Hall)
Middle-aged men with reduced lung function at higher risk for sudden cardiac death
Middle-aged men with reduced lung function are at higher risk for sudden cardiac death compared to men whose lungs function normally, according to a study presented at the American Heart Association's Scientific Sessions 2012.
Testing lung function in this population of men might help predict risk of sudden cardiac death, researchers said.
Researchers tested the lung function of 1,342 men, age 42 to 60, and followed them for sudden cardiac arrest during the next 17 years. They found:
- Ninety-five died of sudden cardiac death.
- Men with the worst forced expiratory volume (the amount of air forcibly exhaled from the lungs in the first second of a forced exhalation) had 3.5 times the risk compared to men with the best lung function.
- With each 10 percent increase in forced expiratory volume risk for sudden cardiac death dropped 18 percent.
Other risk factors for sudden cardiac death include smoking, previous heart attack, high blood pressure and type 2 diabetes.
EMBARGO: 3 p.m. PT/ 6 p.m. ET
Abstract 15883 (Kentia Hall)
Insomnia linked to increased risk of heart attack, stroke
People with insomnia had more than twice the risk of a future heart attack and were almost twice as likely to have a stroke compared to those without sleeping problems, according to a Taiwanese study presented at the American Heart Association's Scientific Sessions 2012.
Researchers studied a nationwide database of 43,180 people in Taiwan, 45 years and older, with insomnia and compared them to a similar group without insomnia.
During about four years of follow-up, 424 heart attacks and 3,307 strokes occurred.
Almost 2 percent of those in the insomnia group versus 0.76 percent of the non-insomnia group experienced heart attack, and 11.18 percent versus 6.47 percent in the non-insomnia group had a stroke.
Statements and conclusions of study authors that are presented at American Heart Association scientific meetings are solely those of the study authors and do not necessarily reflect association policy or position. The association makes no representation or warranty as to their accuracy or reliability. The association receives funding primarily from individuals; foundations and corporations (including pharmaceutical, device manufacturers and other companies) also make donations and fund specific association programs and events. The association has strict policies to prevent these relationships from influencing the science content. Revenues from pharmaceutical and device corporations are available at www.heart.org/corporatefunding.
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