TRENTON, N.J. - For the first time, it appears that more than half of all insured Americans are taking prescription medicines regularly for chronic health problems, a study shows.

The most widely used drugs are those to lower high blood pressure and cholesterol — problems often linked to heart disease, obesity and diabetes.

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An experimental cholesterol drug developed by Merck & Co. has been rejected by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

By Ed Edelson
EmpowHer's HealthDay Reporter

TUESDAY, April 8 (HealthDay News) -- A new study that weighed whether aggressively lowering cholesterol levels and blood pressure in people at high risk of heart disease is worth the effort did not produce a definitive answer to the question.

The American Diabetes Association has two great interactive tools for determining one's risk for diabetes.

The first is the Diabetes Risk Test and can be found here.

The second is what they call Diabetes PhD.

These are valuable tools because according to the ADA's Web site, about 20.8 million children and adults in the US have diabetes -- and nearly one-third of them (or 6.2 million people) don't know they have it.

I just received the results of my recent blood tests and my cholesterol levels are higher than this time 3 years ago! My doctor was really surprised, considering the level of activity and fairly "clean" eating regimen I maintain (as I spend much of each year in training for one event or another). I eat organic, whole foods; consume mostly good fats (I admit a preference for real butter) and follow a plan that you'd probably find incredibly boring.

For the younger women among us, who may not be concerned about heart disease in our near future, but know we should generally eat right and exercise, I wanted to mention a condition that may occur before a diagnosis of cardiovascular disease, which is Metabolic Syndrome. (oh---and just because you are “young” does not mean you do not have risk factors for heart disease! Just read egreene’s personal story with heart disease on her blog entries on the EmpowHer site).

By Ed Edelson
EmpowHer's HealthDay Reporter

FRIDAY, Feb. 29 (HealthDay News) -- Cholesterol-lowering statins could raise the risk for tendon problems, French researchers report.

Patients with chronic health problems who play a major role in their medical treatment may have poorer outcomes than patients who defer to their doctors, suggests a U.S. study that tracked 189 hypertension patients for 12 months.

The ad campaign for the cholesterol-lowering drug Lipitor that features artificial heart pioneer Dr. Robert Jarvik has been halted by drug maker Pfizer. A U.S. Congressional committee examining consumer drug advertising has been looking into whether the ads misrepresented Jarvik and his credentials.

According to the Lupus Research Institute (LRI), there is a connection between lupus and heart disease that young women need to be alerted to. Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is a chronic autoimmune disease that affects more than one million American women and causes the body to make antibodies against itself, can be very serious and life-threatening - emphasis on "can." I have lupus, but no history of heart disease or indication thereof, so far. Knock on my wooden head!