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Breastfeeding reduces heart attack and stroke risk
The longer women breastfeed, the lower their risk of heart attacks, strokes and cardiovascular disease, report U.S. researchers in a study in the journal Obstetrics & Gynecology.
The study adds to a growing body of evidence suggesting breastfeeding has health benefits for both mother and baby.
Researchers at the University of Pittsburgh looked at data on nearly 140,000 post-menopausal women enrolled in the Women's Health Initiative, a study of chronic disease that began in 1994.
They found that compared to women who never breastfed, women who breastfed for one to six months in their lifetimes had a:
five per cent lower risk for high blood pressure
nine per cent lower risk for diabetes
seven per cent lower risk for high cholesterol.
Women who breastfed two years or more during their lifetimes had a:
13 per cent lower risk for high blood pressure
12 per cent lower risk for diabetes
20 per cent lower risk for high cholesterol.
An average of 35 years had passed since women enrolled in the study had last breastfed an infant, suggesting that the benefits from breastfeeding last a long time, said lead researcher Dr. Eleanor Bimla Schwarz, assistant professor of medicine, epidemiology, and obstetrics,
"We have known for years that breastfeeding is important for babies' health; we now know that it is important for mothers' health as well," said Schwarz.
"The longer a mother nurses her baby, the better for both of them... Our study provides another good reason for workplace policies to encourage women to breastfeed their infants."
Research has found that breastfeeding offers many health benefits to both mother and baby.
The Breastfeeding Committee for Canada notes that breastfeeding offers protection for some women against breast cancer, ovarian cancer, endometrial cancer, osteoporosis and anemia.
The list of benefits for the baby is long, with breast milk credited with protecting against obesity, childhood cancers, allergies, and ear and stomach infections.
The Canadian Paediatric Society and Health Canada recommend exclusive breastfeeding for a baby's first six months of life.
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Cardiogenic Shock
If 40 percent or more of the left ventricle's muscular wall has been affected, cardiogenic shock may occur. In heart complications, not enough functional heart muscle remains to pump blood to body tissues and organs to sustain important bodily functions. The heart is not able to provide sufficient blood flow to organs such as the brain, kidneys. As a result, the patient experiences very low blood pressure, rapid heart rate, mental confusion, decreased urine output, and cold arms and legs.
Patients with cardiogenic shock are treated with medications that either increase the amount of blood pumped or reduce the pressure the heart is pumping against. Some individuals may receive a device called an intraaortic balloon pump. The pump is inserted into the aorta Great artery that arises from the left ventricle (pumping chamber) of the heart and is the starting point of the body's arterial system., the major blood vessel that supplies blood to the body from the heart. Inflation of the pump increases the blood pressure in the aorta, which, in turn, increases blood flow to the coronary arteries Blood vessels that carry blood away from the heart and around the body. and peripheral (far away) body tissues.
Before surgery, the researchers estimated each patient's risk for cardiac complications using each of four indices: the American Society of Anesthesiology index, the Goldman index, the Detsky index, and the Canadian Cardiovascular Society index. They then followed patients to see who developed cardiac complications. This permitted them to compare the ability of the four indices to predict who would have a cardiac complication.
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