TUESDAY, May 27 (HealthDay News) -- Improved prediction of a person's heart attack risk can be achieved using calcium coverage scoring, which takes into account not only the amount, but also the distribution, of calcified plaque build-up in the coronary arteries, new research shows.

"Now we know that the location of the calcium in the arteries is particularly important in estimating a patient's potential risk," lead author Elizabeth Brown, a research assistant professor in the department of biostatistics at the University of Washington in Seattle, said in a prepared statement.

By Randy Dotinga
EmpowHer's HealthDay Reporter

WEDNESDAY, May 14 (HealthDay News) -- Italian researchers have some advice for those with high blood pressure: Breathe slowly. Turn on some quiet, rhythmic music. And watch your high blood pressure take a little tumble.

MONDAY, May 12 (HealthDay News) -- The dangers of high blood pressure are well-known, but a new study finds a lack of routine blood pressure screening in doctor's offices and a low percentage of hypertension patients actually meeting their blood pressure goals after diagnosis.

The Stanford University School of Medicine study, published in the May issue of Hypertension, found that in the offices of private U.S. physicians:

* Blood pressure was taken in only 56 percent of all patient visits, and in 93 percent of visits by patients diagnosed with hypertension.

By Ed Edelson
EmpowHer's HealthDay Reporter

FRIDAY, May 2 (HealthDay News) -- A veterans' facility made some small but significant changes in the way it was handling high blood pressure among patients and got a small but significant improvement in blood pressure control, a new study shows.