Blood, placenta tissue and other specimens will be saved.

A Seattle Children’s project to reduce premature births and still births opens a new facility today to store tissue from pregnant women that researchers from around the world can use to study both normal and abnormal pregnancies.

The biorepository will be run by the medical center’s Global Alliance to Prevent Prematurity and Stillbrith (GAPPS).

Specimens stored at the facility will include maternal blood and urine, cervical vaginal swabs, placenta tissue, and cord blood.

Samples will are collected from the first trimester through the postpartum period.

The specimens will be linked with information about the mothers’ preconception history, course of her current pregnancy, environmental exposures, medical and reproductive history, mental health, nutritional intake, and behaviors.

Participation is voluntary, and the identity of participating mothers is kept confidential with the specimens being identified only by number.

“While pregnancy specimen biobanks have been developed before, this is the first time that specimens paired with information about mothers and their pregnancies have been made widely accessible,” said Dr. Craig Rubens, executive director of GAPPS.

The repository currently has more than 8,000 individual specimens available to scientists, with 800-900 specimens being added each month.

The collection includes contributions from women representing a wide range of racial, ethnic, regional, and socioeconomic backgrounds.

Among the goasl of the GAPPS Repository project are to:

• Help researchers discover biomarkers and create screening tools to identify women and babies at risk for preterm birth and stillbirth

• Use those findings to develop diagnostic tests, treatments, and prevention strategies

• And to support research to identify the causes of poor birth outcomes and the fetal origin of adult diseases in the hope of developing cures.

“Many adult health problems can be traced to fetal development,” Dr. Rubens said. “With these specimens, researchers can begin to understand what causes adverse pregnancy outcomes, and develop novel interventions to prevent them.”

To learn more:

• Visit the GAPPS website: www.gapps.org.

• Go to the GAPPS Flickr page to see more photos of the repository.

Take the leap — be one in a million to protect your heart today

Heart disease and stroke together kill more people in Washington than any other cause, and are among the top causes of disability. We have an extra day this leap year on February 29. Take the leap and become one in a million Americans committed to protecting our hearts by accepting the Million Hearts™ pledge.

Join us in preventing a million heart attacks and strokes over the next five years through the national Million Hearts™ initiative. One million lives nationally could translate into 20,000 lives in Washington.

“I have people I love whose lives were cut short by heart attack and stroke, and I know you do, too,” said State Health Officer Dr. Maxine Hayes. “We can commit to making healthy changes to protect our hearts and our lives.”

Preventing one million heart attacks and strokes in five years requires a commitment to change from all of us. To reduce your risk of heart disease and stroke, you need to:

• Understand your risks and learn how to be heart-healthy and stroke-free.

• Get up and get active by exercising for 30 minutes on most days of the week.

• Stay strong by eating a heart-healthy diet that is high in fresh fruits and vegetables and low in sodium, saturated and trans-fats, and cholesterol.

• Take control of your heart health with medications and treatment your health care provider recommends, and know your ABCS: Appropriate Aspirin Therapy, Blood Pressure Control, Cholesterol Management, and Smoking Cessation.

Main sources of sodium include many common foods

From the CDC

Nearly all Americans consume much more sodium than they should, according to a report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.  Most of the sodium comes from common restaurant or grocery store items.

The latest Vital Signs report finds that 10 types of foods are responsible for more than 40 percent of people’s sodium intake.

The most common sources are breads and rolls, luncheon meat such as deli ham or turkey, pizza, poultry, soups, cheeseburgers and other sandwiches, cheese, pasta dishes, meat dishes such as meat loaf, and snack foods such as potato chips, pretzels and popcorn.

Some foods that are consumed several times a day, such as bread, add up to a lot of sodium even though each serving is not high in sodium.

“Too much sodium raises blood pressure, which is a major risk factor for heart disease and stroke,” said CDC Director Thomas R. Frieden, M.D., M.P.H. “These diseases kill more than 800,000 Americans each year and contribute an estimated $273 billion in health care costs.”

The report notes that the average person consumes about 3,300 milligrams of sodium per day, not including any salt added at the table, which is more than twice the recommended limit for about half of Americans and 6 of every 10 adults.

Top Sources of Sodium in Our Diet

• Breads and rolls

• Cold cuts and cured meats

• Pizza

• Poultry

• Soups

• Sandwiches

• Cheese

• Pasta dishes

• Meat dishes

• Snacks

The U.S. Dietary Guidelines recommend limiting sodium intake to less than 2,300 milligrams per day.  The recommendation is 1,500 milligrams per day for people aged 51 and older, and anyone with high blood pressure, diabetes, and chronic kidney disease, and African Americans.

Key points in the Vital Signs Report:

• Ten types of foods account for 44 percent of dietary sodium consumed each day.

• 65 percent of sodium comes from food sold in stores.

• 25 percent of sodium comes from meals purchased in restaurants.

• Reducing the sodium content of the 10 leading sodium sources by 25 percent would lower total dietary sodium by more than 10 percent and could play a role in preventing up to an estimated 28,000 deaths per year.

Reducing daily sodium consumption is difficult since it is in so many of the foods we eat.  People can lower their sodium intake by eating a diet rich in fresh or frozen fruits and vegetables without sauce, while limiting the amount of processed foods with added sodium.

Individuals can also check grocery food labels and choose the products lowest in sodium.  CDC supports recommendations for food manufacturers and restaurants to reduce the amount of sodium added to foods.

“We’re encouraged that some food manufacturers are already taking steps to reduce sodium,” said Dr. Frieden. “Kraft Foods has committed to an average 10 percent reduction of sodium in their products over a two year period, and dozens of companies have joined a national initiative to reduce sodium.

The leading supplier of cheese for pizza, Leprino Foods, is actively working on providing customers and consumers with healthier options.  We are confident that more manufacturers will do the same.”

To learn more:

• To learn more about ways to reduce sodium, visit www.cdc.gov/salt.

• For more information on heart disease and stroke, visit http://www.cdc.gov/heartdisease/.

• Reducing sodium is also a key component of the Million Hearts™ initiative to prevent a million heart attacks and strokes over the next five years.

• To learn how to reduce sodium using the DASH eating plan, visithttp://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/health-topics/topics/dash/.

By Carolyn M. Clancy, M.D.

February 7, 2012

With Valentine’s Day around the corner, hearts shapes are everywhere – on cards, candy, and clothing. But every day of the year, your heart plays a big role in your health and well-being. And conditions or habits that harm our hearts, like high blood pressure or smoking, put our hearts at risk.

The risk is serious. Heart disease and strokes kill more than 800,000 Americans each year and cost $445 billion each year, according to the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) (PDF File, PDF Help). People with heart disease are often unable to work or enjoy normal activities. They are also at higher risk of early death.

To help combat heart disease, especially heart attack and stroke, HHS recently joined several groups that include doctors, nurses, pharmacists, insurance companies, and drug stores in a campaign called Million Hearts.

Over the next 5 years, the partners aim to help millions of Americans improve their heart health by preventing and treating high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and tobacco use.

The goals are ambitious. But the good news is that heart disease can be prevented or reduced with two approaches.

The first is making healthy choices, like quitting smoking (or never starting), and lowering the amount of salt and trans fats we consume. Today, 19 percent of the U.S. population smokes; in 5 years, the partnership aims to cut that to 17 percent.

The second approach is making treatment for heart disease available for people who need it. Simple but effective techniques, known as the “ABCS,” help focus these efforts. The ABCS stand for: Aspirin for people at risk, Blood pressure control, Cholesterol management, and Smoking cessation.

We have good tools to treat heart disease, but they’re not used enough. Today, less than half (47 percent) of people at risk for heart disease take a daily aspirin. The Million Hearts campaign hopes to increase that to 65 percent by 2017. Reducing salt intake, a factor in high blood pressure, by 20 percent, is another goal.

HHS is working with partners to help attain the Million Hearts goals. The partners include:

• The American Heart Association  is offering access to online tools , including one that helps you understand your heart health.

• America’s Health Insurance Plans  and its members are hosting programs to reduce heart disease with programs that promote fitness, lower obesity and manage chronic disease.

• The Y is expanding coverage of its diabetes prevention program  and other national disease prevention programs to better address risks for diabetes, heart attack, and stroke.

My Agency, the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), supports the Million Hearts campaign and has tools and knowledge that can support its goals.

For example, one AHRQ-funded resource that highlights innovative practices describes how pharmacists can help people lower their risk for heart disease.

In the HealthyHeartClub.com program, pharmacists educate patients to lower their heart risk by changing their diet, exercising more, and taking the right medicines. Working with primary care doctors, pharmacists meet with patients, email them weekly, and provide access to classes and tools that support their goals. It works! After 3 months, patients’ weight, blood pressure, and daily activity all improved.

AHRQ’s Effective Health Care Program produces free, plain-language booklets that can help you learn about treatment options for high blood pressure and high cholesterol. They describe treatment options, discuss risks and benefits, and identify areas where more research is needed.

All these resources for the Million Hearts initiative have one thing in common—they are an excellent source of information to share with your health care provider. Together, you can discuss steps you need to take to be sure you’re healthy for many more Valentine’s Days in the future.

I’m Dr. Carolyn Clancy, and that’s my advice on how to navigate the health care system.

Resources

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services: Million Hearts

New public-private initiative aims to prevent 1 million heart attacks and strokes in five years
http://millionhearts.hhs.gov/docs/Million_Hearts_Press_Release.pdf [PDF Help]

Million Hearts
http://millionhearts.hhs.gov/

Heart Disease Prevention: Million Hearts
http://millionhearts.hhs.gov/about-hd-prevention.shtml

Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality

AHRQ Innovations Exchange: Innovation Profile
http://innovations.ahrq.gov/content.aspx?id=3182

Effective Health Care Program

Choosing Medications for High Blood Pressure: A Review of the Research on ACEIs, ARBs, and DRIs
http://effectivehealthcare.ahrq.gov/index.cfm/search-for-guides-reviews-and-reports/?pageaction=displayproduct&productID=75

Treating High Cholesterol: A Guide for Adults
http://effectivehealthcare.ahrq.gov/index.cfm/search-for-guides-reviews-and-reports/?pageaction=displayproduct&productID=351

American Heart Association

AHA
http://www.heart.org/HEARTORG/

American Heart Association/American Stroke Association 

My Life Check
http://50.56.33.51/mlc01/main_en_US.html

America’s Health Insurance Plans (AHIP)

AHIP Statement on Million Hearts Initiative
http://www.ahip.org/News/Press-Room/2011/AHIP-Statement-on-Million-Hearts-Initiative.aspx

The Y

The Y Joins CDC, HHS, CMS in Million Hearts Initiative
http://www.ymca.net/news-releases/20110913-cdc.html

Current as of February 2012

Internet Citation:

Million Hearts Campaign Aims to Lower Risk, Improve Care. Navigating the Health Care System: Advice Columns from Dr. Carolyn Clancy, February 7, 2012. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, Rockville, MD. http://www.ahrq.gov/consumer/cc/cc020712.htm