The Nation's Leading Killer, Heart Disease

The proportion of Americans with the number of the nation's leading killer, heart disease, goes back further, according to new research from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Overall, 6 percent of adult heart disease in 2010, compared with 6.7 percent in 2006. Has taken better treatment for high blood pressure and high cholesterol and smoking could explain the trend, experts say.
But not everyone reaps an advantage: less educated Americans and the people who live in some states, like Kentucky and West Virginia rates of heart disease is still well above the national average, according to the CDC.
According to an expert, but much can and should be done.
"Further reduction of the prevalence of disability and death can be achieved" by the United States the right to transfer and prevention, said Dr. Gregg Fonarow, a professor of cardiology at the University of California at Los Angeles and a spokesman for the American Heart Association.
The new statistics are in the 14 October issue of the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, published in a publication of the CDC.
In their study, researchers from the CDC Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System Survey National Park in 2006 and 2010.
"In five years, the prevalence of heart disease has declined significantly," said lead author Dr. Jing Fang, an epidemiologist at the CDC Division for Heart Disease and Stroke.
Some of the lowest heart disease were observed in the youngest (under 65 years) and those with higher education. Women tend to have a lower incidence of heart disease than men, 4.6 percent and 7.8 percent respectively.
The largest decline in heart disease at the time were among the whites, from 6.4 percent in 2006 to 5.8 percent in 2010. Hispanic Americans also had a significant reduction in heart disease - from 6.9 percent to 6.1 percent during the same period.
On the other hand, the rate of heart disease among blacks increased slightly from 6.4 percent to 6.5 percent. Native American Indian / Alaska had the highest prevalence of heart disease by 11.6 percent, according to the CDC.
Not surprisingly, the rate of heart disease increased with age. In 2010, nearly 20 percent of those over 65 with heart disease, by around 7 percent for 45 to 64 years in comparison, and slightly more than 1 percent of people 18-44.
Education seems to play an important role also. Heart disease is more common in people with no education (9.2 percent), people with some college education (6.2 percent) and those with more than one degree (4.6 percent), the report said.
Geography also matters: only 3.7 percent of people living in Hawaii had heart problems, compared to 8 percent or more of West Virginia and Kentucky. In general, the chances of developing heart disease were higher if you live in the south than in other regions, the researchers said.
Fonarow said that the new report contains "important results".
He noted that despite an increase in obesity and diabetes among Americans, there was a significant decline in the incidence and clinical relevance of coronary heart disease in men and women of all ages and all levels of education.