Less than 10 percent of Americans have low risk for heart disease
Study highlights:
* The proportion of Americans rated low on key heart disease risk factors expanded during the 1980s and 1990s, but is now declining, according to national surveys.
* Only about 1 in 12 U.S. adults had a low risk profile for cardiovascular disease during 1994-2004.
* While fewer adults are smoking, an increasing proportion are developing high blood pressure or diabetes or becoming overweight or obese.
DALLAS, Sept. 14, 2009 — After two decades of improvement, the percentage of Americans without major heart disease risk factors is dropping, according to a report in Circulation: Journal of the American Heart Association.
“From a preventive health point of view, it’s important that individuals achieve as many of these goals as possible, and it’s disappointing that less than 10 percent of Americans are meeting them all,” said Earl S. Ford, M.D., M.P.H., lead author of the study and medical officer of the U.S. Public Health Services at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in Atlanta, Ga.
“Our analysis suggests that achieving low risk status for most U.S. adults remains a distant and challenging goal. Unfortunately, the limited strides that were made towards this goal during the 1970s and 1980s were eroded by the increases in excess weight, diabetes and hypertension during more recent decades.”
