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Taking steps to ensure a healthy pregnancy might prevent your newborn from being born before his or her lungs have fully developed. Your doctor may also give you injections of a corticosteroid medicine if he or she thinks you may give birth too early. This medicine can speed up development of the lungs, brain, and kidneys in your baby and surfactant production.

Strokes are medical emergencies and treatment needs to begin immediately. Depending on the type of stroke, treatment may include medicines (such as tissue plasminogen activator (tPA) or anticoagulants/antiplatelets) and procedures (such as carotid endarterectomy or carotid artery angioplasty). Surgery—such as aneurysm clipping and coil embolization or arteriovenous malformation repair—may be needed to treat a hemorrhagic stroke. Making lifestyle changes can help treat and control risk factors for a stroke.

Conditions that damage or overwork the heart muscle can cause the heart to weaken, including coronary heart disease, diabetes, high blood pressure, other heart conditions, and other factors.

Heart failure is more common in people age 65 or older, blacks, people who are overweight, and people who have had a heart attack. Children who have congenital heart defects also can develop heart failure.

High blood cholesterol is treated with heart-healthy lifestyle changes and medicines to control or lower your high blood cholesterol. Lipoprotein apheresis is a procedure that can be used to treat familial hypercholesterolemia.

Arrhythmia is caused by changes to heart tissue. It can also occur suddenly as a result of exertion or stress, imbalances in the blood, medicines, or problems with electrical signals in the heart. Typically, an arrhythmia is set off by a trigger, and the irregular heartbeat can continue if there is a problem in the heart. Sometimes the cause of an arrhythmia is unknown.

The exact cause of asthma is unknown, and the causes may vary from person to person. However, asthma is often the result of a strong response of the immune system to an allergen in the environment.

RDS is a type of neonatal respiratory disease that is caused most often by a lack of surfactant in the lungs. A fetus's lungs start making surfactant during the third trimester of pregnancy, or weeks 26 through labor and delivery. Surfactant coats the insides of the air sacs, or alveoli, in the lungs. This helps keep the lungs open so breathing can occur after birth.

If you have been diagnosed with Marfan syndrome, it is important to follow your treatment plan, make healthy lifestyle changes, and get mental health support. Learn how to prevent or reduce complications in the future. If you are thinking about becoming pregnant, discuss the possible risks with your doctor.

If you’ve already had sudden cardiac arrest, an implantable cardioverter defibrillator reduces the chances of dying from a second sudden cardiac arrest. If you have not yet had sudden cardiac arrest but have severe coronary heart disease, your doctor may prescribe a beta blocker or statin. Following a healthy lifestyle can help you lower your risk for sudden cardiac arrest, coronary heart disease, and other heart problems.