Drugs commonly used for high blood pressure and heart disease may also help people with a lung condition called COPD, reports a new study. Researchers found that people taking these drugs, called beta-blockers, had fewer flare-ups of COPD and were less likely to die during the 10-year study than those who did not. What do we know already? COPD is short for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. It’s a condition that affects your lungs, oft ... Jump to full article >>

Do you have a sunny outlook on life? If so, you have one more reason to be happy: You may be at less risk for heart disease. People with a joyful, positive, and enthusiastic disposition—what psychologists call “positive affect”—are less likely than their gloomier peers to have a heart attack, a new study has found. “This is the first study, to our knowledge, that has shown that clinically assessed positive emotions are protective of a ... Jump to full article >>

Inhaling secondhand smoke greatly increases risk of heart attack, even among young and nonsmokers Public smoking bans appear to significantly reduce the risk of heart attacks, particularly among younger individuals and nonsmokers, according to a new study published in the September 29, 2009, issue of the Journal of the American College of Cardiology. Researchers find that smoking bans can reduce the number of heart attacks by as much as 26 perce ... Jump to full article >>

THE ban on public smoking has caused a fall in heart attack rates of about 10%, a study has found. Researchers commissioned by the Department of Health have found a far sharper fall than they had expected in the number of heart attacks in England in the year after the ban was imposed in July 2007. In Scotland, where the ban was introduced a year earlier, heart attack rates have fallen by about 14% because of the ban, separate research has shown ... Jump to full article >>