Better treatment and lifestyle changes are improving the prognosis for the approximately 15.8 million Americans with coronary heart disease, according to a report in the New England Journal of Medicine.
Coronary heart disease is diagnosed when your coronary arteries -- the arteries that carry blood to the heart -- become narrowed by the buildup of deposits called plaques within the artery walls. This process, known as atherosclerosis, impairs the ability of the body to pump enough blood through the coronary arteries to provide adequate oxygen and nutrients to the heart. Even worse, formation of a blood clot on top of a plaque can cause a fatal heart attack.
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But for those us with coronary heart disease, the news isn't all bad. A recent article in the New England Journal of Medicine (Volume 356, page 2388) reports that the number of Americans dying of coronary heart disease fell dramatically in just 20 years.
Between 1980 and 2000, the age-adjusted death rate from coronary heart disease in the United States dropped by about 50% in both men and women -- a total of about 342,000 fewer deaths. The decline was about half due to better treatments and half due to healthier lifestyles and improvements in the control of other heart risk factors.
The biggest treatment lifesavers included emergency treatments for heart attack -- such as clot-dissolving medication and artery-clearing procedures like angioplasty -- as well as therapies, such as aspirin, statins, and ACE inhibitors, to prevent further heart attacks and other complications.
Lower smoking rates and better control of blood pressure and cholesterol with lifestyle or medication were responsible for much of the benefit from improved control of risk factors.
Still, coronary heart disease remains the number one killer of Americans. What's more, this study found that increases in rates of obesity and diabetes undermined some of the gains made in other areas of coronary heart disease prevention.
Bottom line: What does this mean for you? Stick with your heart medications, but don't forget the importance of diet, exercise, and weight management in your overall health.
