Cardiovascular Health: How Conventional Wisdom is Failing Us - Hardcover

Cohn M.D., Jay N.

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 144227512X ISBN 13: 9781442275126

Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 2017

Synopsis

We all think we are well-informed about cardiovascular health. But is what we think we know really accurate? Here, a renowned cardiologist describes the biological processes leading to heart and blood vessel disease. He challenges the conventional view that risk factors, poor diet, and lack of exercise are the biggest culprits. Each of these widely-described risk factors is individually discussed and Dr. Cohn concludes that their role in affecting cardiovascular health is often overstated. He promotes a greater emphasis on an individual’s personal and largely inherited cardiovascular health by simple assessment of the function and structure of the arteries and heart. By identifying early disease likely to progress he advocates for early intervention, often with drug therapy, to slow disease progression and prevent symptoms of cardiovascular disease.

ThroHe concludes that health care providers can better treat patients with medications that slow the biological processes that contribute to the development of artery and heart disease. These medications lower blood pressure and cholesterol, but their main effect is to slow progression of disease even in those whose blood pressure and cholesterol levels are not elevated. He describes a strategy for identifying and treating these early abnormalities before symptoms develop. Ultimately, early diagnosis and treatment, he argues, can contribute to better prevention and the slowing of cardiovascular disease progression that would otherwise shorten our lives.

About this title

About the Author

Jay N. Cohn, MD, is Professor of Medicine at the University of Minnesota Medical School and Director of the Rasmussen Center for Cardiovascular Disease Prevention. He was Director of the University’s Cardiovascular Division from 1974-96. He is widely recognized for his contributions to an understanding and management of hypertension, coronary artery disease, myocardial infarction and heart failure. He is the author of the scientific memoir “Saving Sam: Drugs, Race, and Discovering the Secrets of Heart Disease”. He has published over 750 scientific papers and has been honored for his research accomplishments by the American Heart Association, American College of Cardiology, American College of Physicians, American Society of Hypertension, Heart Failure Society of America, American Association for the Advancement of Science, Cornell University and the University of Minnesota. He has served as president of four national and international societies and is co-editor of a major textbook, “Cardiovascular Medicine”. He holds a number of patents on devices and drugs used to diagnose and treat cardiovascular disease.

Review

The obese are at higher risk of heart attacks, but does their risk return to normal when they lose weight? Maybe. Maybe not. No one has studied it. Cohn, director of cardiovascular-disease prevention at the University of Minnesota, challenges people to think about the science behind popular health assumptions. Just because pet owners may be at slightly lower risk of heart attacks doesn’t mean that buying a pet will reduce anyone’s chances. Perhaps it’s the personality of the animal owner or the walks or the comfort of a furry friend. Modern medicine also relies too heavily on numbers; blood pressure readings over 140/90 count as hypertension, while one of 136/86 is barely different yet isn’t treated. Cohn expertly presents common beliefs about blood clots, obesity, inflammation, and diabetes, then presents the facts. For example, he says too many carbohydrates, not excess fat consumption, cause weight gain. So go ahead and eat nutrient-filled nuts and eggs. This eye-opening book is a powerful call to think twice before automatically following conventional wisdom on what’s best for your own heart and health. (Booklist)

Dr. Jay N. Cohn has vast experience in cardiovascular diseases. Herein he points out the many myths and some misunderstandings held by some physicians and the general public regarding cardiovascular health. Based on his extensive experience as a leading cardiologist, he clearly states where we are today in the prevention of ever-advancing cardiovascular disease – what works, what doesn’t work, and why. (Gary S. Francis, MD, FACC, FAHA, FACP, FHFSA, Professor of Medicine, University of Minnesota)

Supported by five decades of clinical experience and groundbreaking research, Dr. Jay Cohn is in a preeminent position to challenge what most experts espouse for the prevention of heart attacks and strokes. His book gets to the heart of the matter—early detection of disease in small arteries. He advocates persuasively for a “personalized medicine” vs a “public health medicine” approach to prevention and treatment. His book is full of surprises and good advice. If you want to improve your odds of living to 100, this book will help get you there without cardiovascular disease. (Phillip K. Peterson, MD, author of Get Inside Your Doctor's Head: 10 Commonsense Rules for Making Better Decisions about Medical Care)

Written by a physician with a well-earned reputation as an innovator, researcher, and clinician, Dr. Jay Cohn’s Cardiovascular Health: How Conventional Wisdom is Failing Us is an invaluable resource and thorough review of the current status of cardiovascular disease. Cohn seeks to explain our healthcare system’s obsession with “risk factors”, and the folly of basing individual treatment decisions on these poor surrogates in actually predicting patient-centered outcomes, and succeeds on all fronts. He eloquently points out, with a wealth of examples, that clinical management based on actual “Detection (of disease) is a better strategy than (basing it on) risk assessment”. Fortunately, in the current era of medicine, forward thinking clinicians have the tools at their disposal to truly personalize care, and detect cardiovascular disease at its earliest stages. The author points out that this is a far more rational approach to treating disease that will likely result in significant downstream cost benefits, and, more importantly, will herald a paradigm shift in the identification and prevention of this national scourge, improving the quality and length of life for millions of Americans. I intend to recommend the book to all of my patients and colleagues. (Lee S. Marcus, MD, MS, FACC, President and Founder, Preventive Cardiology of New York, Chief Medical Officer, Arterial Health International, Inc.)

Edition details

• Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers
• Publication date: 2017
• ISBN 10: 144227512X
• ISBN 13: 9781442275126
• Binding: Hardcover
• Language: English
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 188