Heart disease deaths have been declining in the U.S over the past several decades. However, heart disease still remains a leading cause of death for men and women. Now research reports that heart disease deaths have not declined as much for women and the elderly.
The study, published in Circulation, investigated the trends of cardiovascular disease (CVD) deaths in Olmstead County, Minnesota, between 1979 and 2003. Researchers from Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, analyzed the data of 6,378 Olmsted County residents, aged 25 and older, who died of CVD, from 1979 to 2003. The CVD categories include coronary heart disease (such as heart attack), other heart diseases (such as heart failure), and noncardiac diseases of the circulatory system (such as stroke).
The researchers found that coronary heart disease deaths declined annually by 3.3 percent, although it remained the leading cause of death. Furthermore, other heart diseases declined annually by 2.1 percent and noncardiac diseases by 2.4 percent. However, women had a lower annual decline in CVD deaths (2.5 percent) than men (3.3 percent). In addition, the elderly had a lower annual decline in CVD deaths than younger individuals. Findings also revealed that out-of-hospital CVD deaths had a lower annual decline (1.8 percent) than in-hospital CVD deaths (4.8 percent).
"Over the past 25 years, CVD mortality declined markedly in the community, but there were large disparities in the magnitude of the decline, resulting in a shift in the distribution toward out-of-hospital and non-coronary heart disease deaths," the study authors write. "Further reduction in CVD mortality will require strategies directed at elderly persons and women, in whom out-of-hospital rates have improved only minimally."
REFERENCES:
1. Gerber Y et al. Secular trends in deaths from cardiovascular diseases: a 25-year community study. Circulation 2006 May 16;113(19):2285-92. Epub 2006 May 8.
Posted by Elaine Gavalas on September 20, 2006 02:20 PM
