A recent American Heart Association’s Heart Disease and Stroke Statistics have shown that the number of Americans at risk for heart attacks and strokes just got a lot higher.
AHA epidemiologist Dr. Paul Muntner suggests that as people become older and live longer, more will experience high blood pressure in the near future.
It is known that high blood pressure is a big risk factor of heart disease and stroke.
Around the world, the condition affects nearly 33% of the adults and is the most common cause of heart disease-related deaths.
But high blood pressure is only one chronic health condition that millions of Americans experience.
A sampling of U.S. data from AHA’s latest heart disease and stroke statistics report showed that:
About 103 million adults have high blood pressure;
About 56 million people age 40 and older need to use statins to lower their blood cholesterols;
About 23 million adults live with type 2 diabetes;
More than 16 million people age 20 and older live with coronary heart disease;
More than 6 million adults age 20 and older live with heart failure;
About 1 million may die or have a heart attack due to coronary heart disease this year;
Nearly 800,000 people may have a stroke this year;
More than 350,000 people have a cardiac arrest outside a hospital each year;
In addition,
High blood pressure death rose 38% between 2005 and 2015;
About 38% of adults were obese as of 2014; and
About 15% of adults smoked in 2015.
All the above numbers show that heart disease and stroke are among the leading causes of death.
Researchers suggest that it is important for people to improve health by adopting a healthy lifestyle, which includes eating a healthy diet, doing exercise regularly, sleep well and maintaining healthy body weight.
People should not wait to develop the disease; they need to do preventions actively.
Copyright © 2019 Knowridge Science Report. All rights reserved.
