2. HEART DISEASE – A GLOBAL EPIDEMIC
A guide to understanding this silent killer.
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Heart Disease?
Overview
Signs & Symptoms
Lifestyle Choices
Effects on Your
Body
Outcome
Local Happenings
Social, Economy
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6
7
8
State Actions
Social, Political, Economy
National Movements
Social, Political, Economy
Global Affairs
Political, Economy,
Demographics
Future Outlook
We can make a difference
3. “Heart disease” is a term that refers to a bunch of different
conditions.
The most common type of “heart disease” is Coronary Artery
Disease.
Coronary Artery Disease occurs when plaque builds up in the arteries
that supply blood to the heart (called coronary arteries).
This causes a lack of blood flow to the heart, which can cause the heart
to stop beating.
Plaque is made up of cholesterol deposits, which can accumulate
in your arteries. When this happens, your arteries can narrow
over time. This process is called atherosclerosis.
Heart disease can be measured by doing an EKG, exercise stress
test, or taking a chest X-ray.
WHAT IS HEART DISEASE?
4. It has been shown that heart disease kills one American every
39 seconds.
Heart disease kills more women than all forms of cancer
combined.
Nearly 40 percent of all deaths in New York were due to
Cardiovascular Disease in 2008.
Nearly one in every three deaths are related to stroke or
coronary failure.
More than half of preventable deaths that are caused by heart
disease and stroke happen to people under the age of sixty -
five.
According to the WHO, sixty percent of the global burden of
coronary heart disease occurs in developed nations.
HEART DISEASE – QUICK FACTS
5. “Heart Disease” is caused by high cholesterol, stress, obesity,
diabetes, smoking, alcohol and heredity.
There are two forms of cholesterol.
LDL Cholesterol – This is considered the bad cholesterol, having high
levels can cause blockages in your arteries.
HDL Cholesterol – This is considered good because it absorbs cholesterol
and carries it to the liver where it can be flushed away from the body.
There are no symptoms of cholesterol. The only way of knowing your
levels is to have a blood exam.
Heredity can play a vital role because genes that are linked to
heart disease may be passed down to the baby, which makes
them a higher-risk.
THE SIGNS AND SYMPTOMS
6. Lifestyle choices are important factors for a healthy heart.
You should exercise moderately at least 2-3 times a week or for 150
minutes.
You should practice eating healthy, this means:
Sticking to a certain caloric intake that fits your body type.
You should eat vegetable's, consume protein and limit sugar intake.
This can cause obesity, diabetes and high blood pressure.
Reduce bad fat consumption.
Trans fats and Saturated fats are considered bad. This leads to high cholesterol.
Reduce Stress levels
Listening to music, meditating or a change of scenery can all help reduce
stress.
Smoking and alcohol can raise your risk of high blood pressure.
Sleep
it is recommended to sleep at least 7-8 hours daily.
THE SIGNS AND SYMPTOMS CONT.
7. 5 Signs of a heart attack.
Pain or discomfort in the neck, jaw, or back.
Pain in the arms or shoulders.
Chest pain or discomfort.
Feeling lightheaded, or weak.
Shortness of breath.
According to the American Heart Association, about 785,000
Americans have an initial heart attack and another 470,000
have a recurrent heart attack each year.
If you experience any of these signs call 911 immediately.
THE SIGNS AND SYMPTOMS CONT.
8. “Heart disease” can result in:
Angina – This is chest pain.
An angina can be a precursor to a heart attack.
There are two forms of Angina.
Stable Angina – A result of exercising or stress, usually goes away after 10 -15 minutes.
Unstable Angina – This is when you have pain even at rest and is a medical emergency.
Stroke – This occurs when there is a blockage of blood flow to the
brain.
About 800,000 people in the United States have a stroke each year.
High Blood Pressure – the pressure of the blood in your blood vessels
is higher than it should be.
This is often caused by being inactive or smoking.
Heart Failure – The heart stops beating resulting in death.
EFFECTS ON YOUR BODY
9. Social
There was an event at the Westchester Mall, in White Plains that was
designed to teach senior citizens about the symptoms of heart
disease, and also how to check for signs of heart disease daily using
a new self-monitoring blood pressure system.
This event also allowed people to sign up for a walking program in the
mall, to stay active and healthy.
Another event that took place in Westchester was the Go Red For
Women program.
This event strives to teach women about the signs of heart disease, by
having teaching seminars.
Many women don’t realize that “heart disease” is the number one killer of
females in the world.
LOCAL HAPPENINGS
10. Economy
Westchester County is one of the most expensive places to live in the
United States.
Average property taxes cost $9,647 per year. While the average property
taxes for sixty percent of counties in the United States is $500 to $1,500
per year.
People with no insurance have an extremely difficult time paying for
medicine and hospital care.
People suffering from heart disease; need to take so many different
pills ranging from high blood pressure pills, to high cholesterol pills,
to diabetes pills and many others. This makes it hard to take care of
your family and it becomes increasingly difficult to pay other bills.
LOCAL HAPPENINGS CONT.
11. Social
The New York State Healthy Hearts program is attempting to reduce
CVD related death, by spreading key messages like: be tobacco free,
eat more fruits and veggies, do light exercise for at least 150
minutes a week and for all residents to make sure their blood
pressure and cholesterol are in check with normal levels.
The Healthy Heart Program is creating environments that entice people to
be active like:
Creating sidewalks for people to walk or bike on, and opening schools after hours for
community use.
60% of adults are at work all day and may not have time for working out, so the Healthy
Heart Program is funding agencies to implement programs at work like stretching classes,
exercise room on site and access to healthier food in vending machines.
The same is being done with children in school who need more physical activity and more
information about eating healthier.
Economy
In 2009 alone heart disease cost New York state an estimated $34.7
billion in medical costs and lost productivity.
STATE ACTIONS
12. Political
The National Salt Reduction Initiative (NSRI).
Since salt is one of the leading factors in the increase of high blood pressure,
which is one of the foremost causes of “Heart Disease”, the NYC Health
Department is enforcing a public and private partnership to reduce the
amount of salt in food packaging and also the amount of salt used in
restaurant food.
The NYC Health Department is also planning on observing the changes in
sodium intake of New Yorker’s through a 24-hour urinary sodium
analysis, which is part of the Heart Follow-Up Study.
Gov. Andrew Cuomo was asked by the American Heart Association to
motivate New Yorker’s to improve their cardiovascular health.
The American Heart Association wants Gov. Cuomo to make CPR training a
requirement for all high school graduates.
Also the group is lobbying to ban all artificial trans fats from restaurant
menus, mandatory screenings for heart defects in babies and further funding
for heart disease prevention, obesity prevention and tobacco control.
STATE ACTIONS CONT.
13. Social
The WiseWoman program provides low-income, under-insured or
uninsured woman with chronic disease risk factor screening, lifestyle
programs, and referral services in an attempt to stymie heart disease.
The Paul Coverdell National Acute Stroke Registry program keeps track
of strokes on a state-to-state level. The data that is collected is then
used to attempt to provide stroke victims with the best care available,
while also having a long term goal of diminishing the amount of strokes
in the United States through scientific study and research.
The Million Hearts Program is intended to prevent one million heart
attacks and strokes by the year 2017. The Million Hearts program
believes that it can lower the rates of heart disease by bringing together
campaigns, such as striving for better education and implementing
policies such as the teaching of the “ABCS” of clinical prevention.
NATIONAL MOVEMENTS
14. Economy
To put into perspective just how costly heart disease is to our nation,
Coronary heart disease alone costs $108.9 billion annually.
This cost includes health care services, medications, and lost productivity.
When you add in strokes and other forms of heart disease that number
balloons to an outrageous $312.6 billion annually.
Political
The CDC created and is funding the State Public Health Actions to
Prevent and Control Diabetes, Heart Disease, Obesity and Associated
Risk Factors and Promote School Health grant.
This grant is designed to be a national program that provides a base level of
funding to all 50 states and Washington DC.
As a result of this program all states are required to put into effect new
initiatives that are expected to lower the effects of all of the diseases
mentioned in the grant. Two examples of the initiatives are, promote the
adoption of food service guidelines and nutrition standards, which include
sodium and to promote awareness of high blood pressure among
NATIONAL MOVEMENTS CONT.
15. Political
The banning of smoking in workplaces is a political movement that
will have positive consequences.
Some countries that have banned smoking in workplaces across the world
are Brazil, the Russian Federation, and India.
Countries like the United States, China and Australia have smoking
restrictions in workplaces.
The WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, this is the first
international convention that relates specifically to heart disease.
Once 40 countries ratify the convention it will become a legally binding
treaty among those countries. The convention includes clauses on
advertising bans, smoke-free areas, health warnings and smuggling.
Fifty percent of European countries have plans to deal with CVD
prevention, which is among the highest across the world.
Only eight percent of countries in Africa have national plans.
GLOBAL AFFAIRS
16. Political Cont.
In South-East Asia eighty-nine percent of countries have food and
nutrition legislation, while in the Americas only sixty-six percent of
countries have food and nutrition legislation.
Africa is the lowest region with only twenty-two percent tobacco
legislation and only forty-three percent food and nutrition legislation.
This shows that there can still be a lot of improvement when it comes
to legislating food and nutrition and creating a national health plan
to prevent cardiovascular disease in lesser developed countries.
GLOBAL AFFAIRS CONT.
17. Economy
Globally between four and five percent of all medical costs are spent
on diabetes related illnesses.
In the United Kingdom they spend over four billion dollars annually to
fight obesity.
In Singapore, the average hospital costs for stroke were $5,000.
No matter where you go around the world medical costs are high for
“heart disease”. This is because “heart disease” effects so many
people in every country around the world.
GLOBAL AFFAIRS CONT.
18. Demographics
“Heart disease” effects people of all genders, races, and ages.
Recent studies show that in developed countries people who have
lower incomes or a lower socioeconomic status are more likely to
suffer from Coronary Artery disease. This is also true for high blood
pressure, smoking and diabetes.
Studies also show that in countries like Trinidad and Tobago, there’s
a direct correlation between women aged twenty-four through eighty-
five who have high blood pressure and extremely low incomes.
In Canada, children who come from low-income families are twice as
likely to be obese when compared to wealthy families, which results
in “heart disease”.
GLOBAL AFFAIRS CONT.
19. “Unless current trends are halted or reversed, over a billion people
will die from cardiovascular disease in the first half of the 21st
century. The large majority will be in developing countries and
much of the life years will be lost in middle age. This would be an
enormous tragedy, given that research in the last half of the 20th
century showed that cardiovascular disease was largely
preventable.”
Anthony Rodgers, Clinical Trials Research Unit, University of
Auckland, New Zealand, 2004
“Heart disease” will only be reduced by prevention, not
technology. People need to change their lifestyle choices and
their needs to be more education in school in order to prevent
more CVD fatalities.
FUTURE OUTLOOK
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REFERENCES CONT.
