| Heart Disease Remains Top Killer Nearly 62 million Americans have some form of cardiovascular disease, and nearly a million die from such conditions each year. Heart disease is by far the number one killer in the United States, although a third of those deaths could be prevented if people followed better diets and exercised more, the American Heart Association said in an annual report. The AHA estimates that 61,800,000 Americans have cardiovascular disease, which can include high blood pressure, coronary heart disease (heart attack and chest pain), stroke, birth defects of the heart and blood vessels, and congestive heart failure. According to the report, 50 million Americans have high blood pressure, 12.6 million have coronary heart disease and 4.6 million have suffered stroke. Overall, slightly more females than males have cardiovascular disease. Cardiovascular disease kills more Americans than the next seven causes combined -- including cancer -- the AHA report states. "The most surprising finding is that heart disease and stroke numbers are not going down," Dr. David Faxon, president of the AHA, told Reuters Health. "For many years, they did, but now we are seeing a leveling off, and in fact, we are seeing an increase in some groups such as African-American women." According to Faxon, reasons for the leveling off in numbers include the aging of the population and the "growing problem" of diabetes and obesity, both of which greatly increase heart disease risk. In 1999, the most recent year for which data is available, cardiovascular disease deaths totaled nearly 1 million -- equivalent to 1 death every 33 seconds -- and accounted for 40% of all deaths that year. The new report also states that caring for people with cardiovascular disease costs billions of dollars and will get more expensive. Cardiovascular disease-related costs for 2001 were estimated at $298.2 billion and are expected to rise to $329.2 billion in 2002. "The majority of the cost is for inpatient hospitalization so anything that prevent the disease and complications and the need for rehospitalization can reduce cost," Faxon said. "Cardiovascular disease deaths in 1999 totaled 958,755; cancer 549,838; accidents 97,860; Alzheimer's disease 44,536 and HIV/AIDS 14,802," the association said in a statement. Heart disease accounted for 40 percent of all deaths in the United States in 1999. Many studies show that a better diet and a little exercise can prevent many deaths, yet Americans ignore the most basic guidelines, the heart association said. The report says only 22.7 percent of adults ate the minimum of five servings of fruits and vegetables a day in 1996 -- up from 19 percent in 1990. Americans are also failing to control a common cause of heart death -- their blood pressure. Only 39 percent of adults with high blood pressure had their levels controlled to below 140/90 mm Hg, considered the highest desirable blood pressure, according to the National Center for Quality Assurance. About a quarter of all Americans smoke cigarettes, which cause an estimated one in five deaths from cardiovascular diseases, the heart association said. Its report said 37,000 to 40,000 nonsmokers die from heart disease every year because of exposure to secondhand cigarette smoke. Washington Post January 1, 2002; Page A11 |