Posts by Yvonne Commodore-Mensah
Health Equity: Cardiovascular Nurses’ Role
Advancing Health Equity Health equity has been defined as “When every person has a fair opportunity to attain his or her full health potential, and no one is disadvantaged from achieving this potential because of social position or other socially determined circumstances”.1 This is a cause that cardiovascular nurses can support. All nurses are obligated…
Read MoreCardiac Biomarkers and COVID-19
This article on biomarkers and COVID-19 was co-written by Oluwabunmi Ogungbe, MPH, RN and Yvonne Commodore-Mensah, PhD, MHS, RN. What Nurses Should Know About Cardiac and Inflammatory Biomarkers and COVID-19 Increases in cardiac-specific biomarkers, electrocardiographic changes, or new imaging features of impaired cardiac function indicate acute myocardial damage during a viral illness,1 such as COVID-19.…
Read MoreSelf-measured Blood Pressure Monitoring: Using a Validated Device is Key to Accurate Measurement
Using a clinically accurate validated device for blood pressure monitoring is important in the battle against uncontrolled hypertension. Uncontrolled Hypertension Remains a Clinical and Public Health Challenge Approximately, 46% of US adults (108 million adults) have hypertension, defined as ≥130/80 mm Hg.1 Of US adults with hypertension, less than a quarter (21.6%) have controlled blood…
Read MoreThe Path to Reversing Worsening Hypertension Control in the US
Calling All Nurses: The Path to Reversing Worsening Hypertension Control in the US A recent study points to a trend of worsening hypertension control in the United States. What is behind this trend, and what can nurses do to help reverse it? Hypertension or high blood pressure (BP) is a global health problem, particularly in…
Read MoreCOVID-19 and Cardiovascular Disease: Key Considerations for Cardiovascular Nurses
This article was co-written by Oluwabunmi Ogungbe, MPH, RN and Yvonne Commodore-Mensah, PhD, MHS, RN Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is an infectious disease caused by the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). Contrary to earlier reports that COVID-19 was mostly a respiratory disease, it is now well accepted that COVID-19 is a multi-organ system disease.…
Read MoreInternational Year of the Nurse and Midwife 2020
Implications for Cardiovascular Nurses The World Health Organization (WHO), International Confederation of Midwives, International Council of Nurses, Nursing Now and the United Nations Population Fund have joined forces to declare 2020 as the “International Year of the Nurse and Midwife.” This year-long commemoration seeks to celebrate the work of nurses and midwives, highlight the challenging…
Read MoreA World Under Pressure: The Growing Burden of Hypertension
The global burden of hypertension was estimated at approximately 1.4 billion in 2010, and is projected to exceed 1.6 billion by 2025.1,2 Noncommunicable diseases (NCDs), which include hypertension, caused 40.5 million or 71% of the 56.9 million deaths that occurred globally in 2016.3 The consequences of uncontrolled hypertension include cardiovascular disease, renal disease, morbidity, disability, and…
Read MoreMetabolically Healthy Obesity: Fact or Fiction?
Obesity is a significant risk factor for cardiovascular disease (CVD), and the prevalence of obesity is approximately 40% among U.S. adults.1 Yet obesity, defined solely based on body mass index (BMI) ≥ 30, provides an incomplete picture of a person’s heart health. More classically now, the degree of metabolic health is defined by metabolic syndrome…
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