Sunday, May 20, 2012

The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly: AHA Releases Update of Heart and Stroke Statistics

The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly: AHA Releases Update of Heart and Stroke Statistics



By Larry Husten / Source: Forbes



Once again, statistics on the cardiovascular health of the United States

portray a complicated picture of improvement and decline. On the one hand,


deaths from cardiovascular diseasecontinue to decline. On the other hand,


ominous trends, many stemming from the increase in obesity, suggest that

the good news may not last much longer. The full picture is contained in th
e

American Heart Associations Heart Disease and Stroke Statistics– 2012 Update*,  published  in*Circulation.



Here are a few key items from the update:



  - The 2008 overall rate of death attributable to CV disease: 244.8 per 100 000.

  - CV disease accounted for one-third (32.8%) of all deaths.

  - Deaths from CV disease declined by 30.6% from 1998 to 2008.

  - One-third of deaths from CV causes occur before the age of 75 years of age.

  - One in 9 death certificates mentions heart failure.

  - One-third (33.5%) of US adults have hypertension.

  - 21.2% of adult men and 17.5% of adult women smoke cigarettes.

  - 15% of US adults have total serum cholesterol levels over 240 mg/dL.

  - 8% of the adult population has diagnosed diabetes while more than a

  third of the population (36.8%) had abnormal fasting glucose levels.

  - Two-third of US adults (67.3%) are overweight or obese.

  - One-third of children (31.7%) are overweight or obese.



Here is the AHA press release:


New stats show America’s heart health needs improvement

 

  - New statistics show America’s cardiovascular health is far from “ideal.”

  - For example, between 1971 and 2004, the average total daily calorie


  consumption has increased by 22 percent in women and by 10 percent in men.

   

  - There is good news – the stroke death rate fell 34.8 percent
between 1998 and 2008, dropping it from the third to fourth leading cause of death,  possibly because of better treatments for acute stroke.  

However,  reclassifying some respiratory diseases into one category also played a role.



*EMBARGOED UNTIL 3 p.m. CT/4 p.m. ET, Thursday, Dec. 15*



DALLAS, Dec. 15, 2011 — America’s heart and blood vessel health is far from

ideal, according to data in the American Heart Association’s œHeart Disease

and Stroke Statistical Update 2012,”**published in Circulation: Journal of

the American Heart Association.




The update provides insight into our less than ideal cardiovascular health.


For example, obesity continues to be a major problem for many Americans.

More than 67 percent of U.S. adults and 31.7 percent of children are

overweight or obese. Over the past 30 years, the prevalence of obesity in


children has increased from 4 percent to more than 20 percent.



The American Heart Association defines ideal cardiovascular health based on


seven health factors: smoking status, weight, physical activity, healthy

diet, cholesterol, blood pressure and fasting glucose levels, as well as

the absence of a diagnosis of heart or blood vessel disease.



Based on that definition, the new data shows that 94 percent of U.S. adults


have at least one and 38 percent have at least three of the seven factors


at “poor” levels. Half of U.S. children 12 to 19 years old meet four or

fewer criteria for ideal cardiovascular health.



Between 1971 and 2004, our average calorie consumption has increased by 22


percent in women (from 1,542 to 1,886 kcal/d) and by 10 percent in men

(from 2,450 to 2,693 kcal/d). Many of these increased calories come from

consuming more carbohydrates, particularly starches, refined grains and

sugars; larger portion sizes and calories per meal as well as consuming

more sugar-sweetened beverages, snacks, commercially prepared meals

(especially fast food) and high-calorie foods.



Burning those calories is also an increasing challenge – 33 percent
of adults engage in no aerobic leisure-time physical activity.



Furthermore, in 2009, among adolescents in grades nine through 12, 29.9

percent of girls and 17 percent of boys had not engaged in 60 minutes of

moderate-to-vigorous physical activity — the recommended amount for
good health — even once in the previous seven days.



There is some good news in the update — the death rate from cardiovascular

diseases (CVD — all diseases of the heart and blood vessels) fell 30.6

percent from 1998 to 2008, possibly due to better treatments for heart

attacks, congestive heart failure and other acute conditions.



The stroke death rate fell 34.8 percent during that time period, dropping


it from the third to the fourth leading cause of death. While the drop in


ranking is mostly driven by decreases in the number of stroke deaths,

likely due to better treatment options for acute stroke, reclassifying some


respiratory diseases into one category also played a role.



For example, deaths from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD),

bronchitis and pneumonia are now grouped under the larger category,

“respiratory diseases.”



Unfortunately, other statistics in the update illustrate America’s


continued cardiovascular disease burden:



  - Cardiovascular diseases accounted for one in every three deaths in the


  United States in 2008; more than 2,200 Americans die of cardiovascular


  diseases every day ― an average of one death every 39 seconds.

  - The cost of cardiovascular care and treatment increased over $11

  billion from 2007 to 2008.

  - The direct and indirect cost of CVD and stroke in the United State for


  2008 was an estimated $297.7 billion.



“By monitoring health, as well as disease, the update provides info
rmation

essential to public health initiatives, patient care and for people to take


personal responsibility for their health ― and for their lives, said

Véronique L. Roger, M.D, M.P.H., lead author of the update and profess
or of

medicine and epidemiology at the Mayo Clinic College of Medicine in

Rochester, Minn.



The American Heart Association has set a goal for America — to impr
ove the

cardiovascular health of all Americans by 20 percent and reduce deaths from


cardiovascular diseases and stroke by 20 percent by 2020. “If we âre to

reach this goal, we’ll need to engage every segment of the population to

focus on improved health behaviors,” said Donald Lloyd-Jones, M.D.,
an author of the statistical update and chair of the Department of Preventive


Medicine, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago.



“In particular, more children, adolescents and young adults will need to

learn how to improve and preserve their ideal levels of health factors and


health behaviors into older ages. Moving people who are at poor health to


make small changes in their behavior and reach intermediate health is a

step in the right direction that can make a big difference,” said


Lloyd-Jones.



Edited by: Lawyer Asad


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