Why the Healthy Heart Series? Here's why:
Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death in the western and the developing world. There are 500,000 deaths annually with a death occurring each minute due to heart related illnesses. Heart disease is largely preventable. Heart disease can involve the young and the old, men and women. While statistics indicate that there is a plateau in mortality for heart disease because of new technology and interventions, this is not true for everyone. Certain groups of the population, such as women and certain ethnic groups may experience shortened life spans and more comorbidities. Heart disease is largely preventable and controlled if the appropriate therapy is initiated. There are many barriers to achieving appropriate control some of which are subtle and unrecognized by both the health care providers and subjects. This was demonstrated in several studies including the study of age and socioeconomics matched patients published in the NEJM in 1999. The health care providers are critical to addressing certain areas within one’s health profiles but this could be augmented by other interventions. The Healthy Heart Series provide education, awareness and outreach. Our programs provide a vehicle for training, advocacy, teaching, self help and thus optimal treatment. This results in a measured improvement in self management which will ultimately result in improved outcomes for cardiovascular health.
