The Los Angeles Times (10/14, Brown) “Booster Shots” blog reports, “Heart disease prevalence in the US has declined over the last five years, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported Thursday.” CDC researchers found that “more men reported having a diagnosis of heart disease than women — 7.8% versus 4.6%.” Individuals “without a high school education had higher prevalence of heart disease — 9.2% — than people with diplomas (6.7%), some college education (6.2%) and some graduate education (4.6%).”
AFP (10/14) reports, “The highest number of cases were reported by American Indians and Alaska natives, at 11.6 percent versus those who identified themselves as Asians, native Hawaiians or Pacific Islanders at 3.9 percent.”
The CNN (10/14) “The Chart” blog reports, “Lead author Dr. Jing Fang said the decrease in prevalence of heart disease was consistent with a decline in high-risk populations: People with uncontrolled hypertension, uncontrolled LDL (bad) cholesterol, and smokers.”
Blogfinger Medical Commentary: After World War II, medical scientists began to take notice of an epidemic of coronary disease in the United States and other western countries. Researchers looked at epidemiological data and began to identify “coronary risk factors” that were linked to the risk of heart attacks and cardiac death rates. Over time, strategies were developed to reduce risk including stop smoking efforts, dietary changes, cholesterol control, promotion of exercise and management of high blood pressure.
The more we learned, the more complicated the subject became. For example the link of heart trouble to blood cholesterol levels seemed like a simple idea, but now we have a whole science–lipidology–that studies how the fats in our blood interact with other factors to produce plaque inside arteries. That “cholesterol hypothesis” evolved to the present where there are now powerful drugs that can significantly improve prognosis for heart disease.
The results described above confirm that this 60+ year effort has produced positive results and should motivate everyone, especially high risk individuals, to follow prevention guidelines. That is why we re-titled our book “Prevention Does Work: A Guide to a Healthy Heart.”
Paul Goldfinger, MD, FACC