Heart disease and strokes are big problems worldwide, including in the United States. Almost 1 million people die from these diseases in the U.S. each year.
To help us understand more, the American Heart Association (AHA) releases a report every year. The 2024 report gives us both good and bad news about heart and brain health.
The report says that even though we have made progress in some areas, like fewer people smoking, there are still big challenges.
Dr. Seth Martin, a heart doctor from Johns Hopkins Medicine, says we know a lot about how to help patients, but we’re not using this knowledge well enough in everyday health care.
He believes we need new and better ways to use this information to help more people.
One of the biggest problems is high blood pressure, or hypertension. It affects nearly half of the adults in the U.S., which is more than 122 million people. High blood pressure can damage and weaken the arteries, leading to heart attacks and strokes.
For adults and teens, high blood pressure is when the top number is 130 or more, or the bottom number is 80 or more. Even children can have high blood pressure.
Dr. Latha Palaniappan, an expert in heart medicine, warns that high blood pressure in children can lead to serious health issues earlier in adulthood.
She suggests that we might need to start treating people earlier to prevent problems like strokes and heart failure.
To lower blood pressure, the AHA advises eating healthy foods with less salt, drinking less alcohol, staying active, keeping a healthy weight, not smoking, managing stress, and taking prescribed medication.
Physical activity is another area of concern. Only 15% of teens are active enough, and just 1 in 4 adults meet the recommended levels of exercise.
The report also talks about diet. Most people in the U.S. don’t eat healthily. The average diet score is quite low, between 24 and 48 out of 100.
Healthy eating should include fruits, vegetables, whole grains, lean proteins, nuts, and seeds. We should also limit salt, sugar, saturated fat, and alcohol.
Obesity is another big issue. 42% of U.S. adults and 20% of kids and teens are obese. Dr. Martin finds this very worrying. He says we need to encourage healthy habits from a young age and use effective ways to help people lose weight.
There’s some good news about smoking. Fewer people are smoking cigarettes now. However, many young people are using e-cigarettes, especially the flavored ones.
We don’t know everything about the health risks of e-cigarettes, but there are concerns about their effects on the heart and lungs.
The report also highlights that heart disease and stroke risks are higher in certain groups, like Black people in the U.S. Dr. Martin says we need to work harder and come up with new ideas to reduce these risks.
It’s important to make sure these efforts reach everyone, including people in rural and underserved areas.
Dr. Palaniappan emphasizes the need to focus on these communities, where people often have less money, education, healthcare, healthy food, and safe neighborhoods.
In summary, while there have been improvements in some areas of heart health, there’s still a lot to be done.
By understanding and tackling issues like high blood pressure, lack of exercise, poor diet, obesity, and the use of e-cigarettes, we can make a real difference in reducing heart disease and strokes. It’s about taking small, simple steps towards a healthier future for everyone.
If you care about heart disease, please read studies about a big cause of heart failure, and common blood test could advance heart failure treatment.
For more information about heart health, please see recent studies about a new way to repair human heart, and results showing drinking coffee may help reduce heart failure risk.
The research findings can be found in the AHA journal Circulation.
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