cover image Preventing Silent Heart Disease

Preventing Silent Heart Disease

Harold L. Karpman. Crown Publishers, $17.95 (0pp) ISBN 978-0-517-57300-6

The fact that coronary-artery disease, and even the acute event called a heart attack, can occur ``silently'' (i.e., without pain or other symptoms) may come as news to some. Even so, that possibility does not justify the misleading title of this book, a basic treatise on heart disease. Most of the contents--causes of the illness, risk factors, preventive strategies and precautions, means of treatment--differ little whether the disease is ``silent'' or not. And Karpman's ( Your Second Life ) counsel, though complete and responsibly delivered, covers little new ground. His standard advice (stop smoking, lose weight, eat properly, see your doctor regularly) is given at length, with what some specialists might deem undue emphasis on stress (treadmill) testing, Holter (ambulatory EKG) monitoring and other techniques; occasionally the text cries for editorial intervention (``Jim Fixx felt well enough to jog at the time of his death''). Karpman is an associate clinical professor at the UCLA School of Medicine. (Sept.)