Sildenafil, the key ingredient in Viagra, may shield the heart from high blood pressure damage according to a new study of mouse hearts from Johns Hopkins University.

The researchers say sildenafil appears to affect RGS2 (regulator of G-protein signalling 2), a protein essential to reactions that protect the heart’s blood pumping function from escalating into heart failure, according to MedlinePlus.

The findings were published in The Journal of Clinical Investigation.

Experts say the international guidelines on who is eligible for statins may need reworking after the publication of a study finding that people at low risk of heart disease may benefit from cholesterol medication.

The Jupiter trial results, published in the New England Journal of Medicine, studied nearly 18,000 people and found that people with normal cholesterol levels had their risk of a heart attack reduced by 54% and stroke by 48% after taking the drug.

Keeping you iPod earbuds in your shirt pocket or draped around your neck is bad news if you have a pacemaker or implanted defibrillator - even if they’re not connected, according to a new study released yesterday.

Some headphones interfere with heart devices when held very close to them, and may even prevent a defibrillator giving a lifesaving jolt according to Boston doctors at an American Heart Association conference.

The American Heart Association has recommended all heart patients should be screened regularly for signs of depression because of its high incidence.

This is the association’s first ever call to action addressing cardiac patients and depression, with the hope that routine screening will be done on every cardiac patient.

The publication Circulation: Journal of the American Heart Association says depression is roughly three times more common in those hospitalised with heart problems than the general population.