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SUNY Commemorates National Wear Red Day, Urging New Yorkers to Protect their Heart Health

In celebration of National Wear Red Day, State University of New York Chancellor Kristina M. Johnson joined SUNY Health, the coalition of academic health partners within the State University of New York, in urging New Yorkers to take steps to protect their heart health and to recognize the signs and symptoms of a heart attack. In recognition of the event, the SUNY Plaza building glows red this week.

The event is part of the American Heart Association’s Go Red for Women celebration, which focuses on heart disease in women. The month of February is American Heart Month.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, one in four deaths in the U.S. every year are caused by heart disease, totaling 647,000 Americans. About 18.2 million Americans over age 20 suffer from coronary artery disease (CAD), a narrowing or blockage of the arteries caused by a buildup of plaque on artery walls. CAD can result in a heart attack, which affects 805,000 Americans every year. Other forms of heart disease include disease of the valves and heart failure.

Risk factors for heart disease include high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and cigarette smoking. The risk also increases if you are overweight or obese, physically inactive, or eat a diet high in saturated fats.

According to SUNY Health experts, CAD can be prevented with lifestyle strategies, including:

• Giving up smoking
• Exercising regularly
• Eating a heart-healthy diet
• Maintaining a healthy weight
• Keeping your cholesterol, blood sugar, and blood pressure in a healthy range

Severe CAD can result in a heart attack, which can cause the following symptoms:

• Chest pain or discomfort that is intermittent or lasts more than a few minutes
• Weakness, lightheadedness, a faint feeling, or cold sweat
• Pain or discomfort in the jaw, neck, or back
• Pain or discomfort in one or both arms or shoulders
• Shortness of breath 

SUNY has leading researchers and clinicians in cardiovascular disease. Among them:

• At the University at Albany, Shao Lin, PhD, a professor of environmental health sciences, works with colleagues around the globe on research surrounding the impacts of the environment on cardiovascular health. In one recent study, her team found that several sources of air pollution can trigger acute cardiovascular events and hospitalizations. Lin contributed to two other studies that found that living in proximity to green spaces was associated with lower blood pressure in children, and lower body mass index and obesity in adults.

• At SUNY Downstate Health Sciences University, cell biologist Xian-Cheng Jiang, PhD, is working on understanding the mechanism of lipid production in the liver, and lipid  absorption in the small intestine. Liver- or intestine-derived lipids make important contributions to low density lipoprotein (LDL), the bad cholesterol, and triglycerides in the blood. LDL and triglyceride-enriched lipoprotein contribute to the buildup of plaque in artery walls.

•  At Upstate Medical University, David Auerbach, PhD, an assistant professor of pharmacology, is conducting groundbreaking research into why people with a genetic cardiac disease (Long QT Syndrome) are at a high risk for potentially lethal electrical disturbances in both the heart (arrhythmias) and brain (seizures.) In a separate study, he is looking at the use of wearable technology to detect cardiac arrhythmia markers in epilepsy patients at risk for Sudden Unexpected Death in Epilepsy (SUDEP), which killed the actor Cameron Boyce in 2019.