Announcer:
0:00
Welcome to the MedEvidence! Monday Minute Radio Show hosted by Kevin Geddings of WSOS St Augustine Radio and powered ENCORE Research Research Group. Each Monday morning, Dr Michael Koren calls in to bring you the latest medical updates with insightful discussions. MedEvidence! is where we help you navigate the real truth behind medical research, with both a clinical and research perspective. So sit back, relax and get ready to learn about the truth behind the data in medicine and healthcare. This is MedEvidence!
Kevin Geddings:
0:30
Well, Dr. Michael Koren is with us and, of course, he is a medical doctor, cardiologist, research scientist. He also heads up the show ENCORE Research Group and they are engaged in lots of clinical trials - the opportunity for you to be a part of leading edge medicine; what's next on the horizon. You can participate right here in St John's County. There are offices located in the Whetstone Building next door to UF Flagler Hospital. I'm going to give you all that contact information. Also, check out the website EncoreDocs. com to see what trials you may be able to participate in, and we're going to talk a little bit about some basic numbers that we should all check. And, of course, heading into the new year, maybe a lot of us got on the scale. That's one basic number, right, doctor?
Dr. Michael Koren:
1:11
It is that's our theme for this morning is when was the last time you checked your numbers, and what numbers should you check?
Kevin Geddings:
1:19
Yeah, exactly. How often should we weigh ourselves, doc?
Dr. Michael Koren:
1:25
Well, it depends on your objectives, of course, but that's probably the most common number that we talk about, that we measure, that we often obsess about it. If you're at a good weight and you feel like you're maintaining that weight, you don't need to check it very often. But for people who are working to reduce that number, you want to check it on a regular basis. Or if you're a cardiac patient and you have a tendency to get fluid overload, the fastest way to determine that is to see what your weight is. So in patients that have congestive heart failure, for example, an increase in weight of two or three pounds can indicate fluid accumulation, which will make their heart failure worse.
Dr. Michael Koren:
2:03
So it depends on the circumstances, but in general, if this is an active focus of your treatment or of your concerns, check it every day and, by the way, check it consistently. In any scientific endeavor, it's important that you have rules of consistency. So, for example, when we're checking patients that have congestive heart failure and we ask them to get their weights every day, we want them to do it typically first thing in the morning, with the same amount of clothes on and after the same medication regimen. I think that's also true if you're trying to do it for diabetic control or weight control. It's important to do these things consistently.
Kevin Geddings:
2:39
Right, that's Dr. Michael Koren. By the way, with ENCORE Research Group, other numbers, you know, when we see our doctor, hopefully once a year, he's going to likely test for cholesterol and maybe some other things. What are some other things we should be tracking in terms of our numbers?
Dr. Michael Koren:
2:55
Cholesterol and blood pressure would be the two parameters that are most important in terms of checking your numbers from a cardiovascular prevention perspective. They have different concepts between those two very, very important parameters. For cholesterol, you get an overall number, which is useful but probably not quite as useful as your LDL cholesterol, which is your bad cholesterol, and the ratio between good and bad cholesterol, good cholesterol being HDL. And then for blood pressure, you have something that's intrinsically variable which is very concerning for a lot of people.
Dr. Michael Koren:
3:33
One of the things that I spend a lot of time counseling my patients about is the fact that you shouldn't freak out when your blood pressure fluctuates. So if you get stressed over a short period of time or when you're exercising, your blood pressure will go up. But as long as it comes back down and that your average blood pressure and your range of blood pressures over a period of time are within acceptable range, then you don't have that much to worry about. But for somebody with heart disease or somebody who is at high risk for heart disease, it's important that you check both cholesterol and blood pressure on a more regular basis. With blood pressure fluctuating more rapidly and during the course of the day, so that requires more checks than, say, cholesterol level.
Kevin Geddings:
4:14
And there are some other items that a lot of us don't know about, some other numbers out there that could be very important. Correct?
Dr. Michael Koren:
4:21
Yeah, and that's the area of new research. So we know that a lot can be learned from a cholesterol level, particularly an LDL cholesterol level, and we make a lot of progress when we get that LDL cholesterol level down to an optimal range. But we're also learning that that's not the end all. That there are other parameters that are also important and two that are being actively studied right now are lipoprotein( a), and you and I have had a lot of discussions around that, and that's a cholesterol problem that people have, that runs in families, and 20% of all Americans have this cholesterol problem, and often that's associated with a very strong family history of heart attack or stroke.
Dr. Michael Koren:
5:02
The other one that we're talking more and more about is called hsCRP, which is a marker for vascular inflammation, and we're learning more and more that this parameter of vascular inflammation is very predictive of long-term cardiovascular complications. In fact, most of the authorities that look after our public health are now recommending that people have their hsCRP checked, maybe once a year to start, and if you're, if you had a good level, you don't have much to worry about. But if that hsCRP is elevated, then you should be thinking about more aggressive approaches to reduce your risk of heart disease and stroke. So again, as we speak, we're doing research on both Lp(a), lipoprotein( a) and hsCRP.
Kevin Geddings:
5:50
Well, if you'd like to learn more about that, and, of course, participating in clinical research with ENCORE Research Group, you're going to have all these numbers tested on a regular basis. There's going to be the best assessment of your health care that you probably have ever had, of the status of your health, and that comes from my own personal experience in participating. Karen from our team has also done this. So I encourage you to learn more by going to EncoreDocs. com, encoredocs. com, and if you're out there searching for information, especially with perhaps what may be next week the death of TikTok, we've got a better place than TikTok for you to go to get good, reliable healthcare information. Right, doctor?
Dr. Michael Koren:
6:27
Well, yes, thanks for the plug, and MedEvidence! is our platform to learn about the Truth Behind the Data, so a good example of that is actually a fabulous podcast I just did with Dr. Paul Ridker, who is considered the world expert on vascular inflammation. He's done a tremendous amount of research in this area and he also happens to be my medical school classmate, so we had actually a fun time and a very informative time together explaining to people what hsCRP is and why vascular inflammation is important. So go to MedEvidence! and check it out. I think you'll enjoy it.
Kevin Geddings:
7:01
Yeah, it is a great website. MedEvidence! the Truth Behind the Data. MedEvidence. com Dr. Koren, thank you for all your time this morning. We hope you have a good week. Okay,
Dr. Michael Koren:
7:10
Same to you,
Announcer:
7:11
Thanks for joining the MedEvidence! Podcast. To learn more, head over to MedEvidencecom or subscribe to our podcast on your favorite podcast platform.
