AHA: Focus on cardiovascular health, not disease

AHA: Focus on cardiovascular health, not disease

DECEMBER 18, 2009 | Lisa Nainggolan

Chicago, IL - The traditional annual report on heart disease and stroke from the American HeartAssociation is, this year, being used to revisit the concept of cardiovascular health, rather than concentrating on cardiovascular disease [1].

"The AHA is refocusing efforts on lifestyle factors that can prevent the development of cardiovascular disease in the first place, and some of the statistics in this document show us just how far we have to go," lead author Dr Donald Lloyd-Jones (Northwestern University, Chicago, IL), who is chair of the AHA statistics committee, told heartwire.

Despite showing that cardiovascular disease mortality is still declining, the most recent literature shows that reductions in coronary heart disease deaths are starting to level off, indicating a ticking time bomb unless radical action is taken soon, he said.

The year-end report, published online December 17, 2009 in Circulation, highlights depressingly familiar statistics: high rates of inactivity, inadequate use of lipid-lowering therapies, and strikingly, high rates of men (25%) and women (20%) continuing to smoke. Although the numbers show that acute cardiovascular events are being handled more aggressively—with procedure rates rising 33% in 2006—the system will be unable to cope with the financial cost of further increases in the future if risk factors continue to increase as predicted, Lloyd-Jones said./.../