Nearly half of all US adults have some form of heart or blood vessel disease, a new report reveals.
The American Heart Association (AHA) says that more than 121 million adults had cardiovascular disease in 2016.
And deaths from cardiovascular disease are up again after decades of encouraging declines.
Worried that people were waiting too long to get their blood pressure under control, the AHA lowered the benchmark for high blood pressure from 140/90 to 130/80 mm Hg in 2017, a shift that has driven up rates of artery diseases.
On the heals of a change to the benchmark for high blood pressure, as measured in this photo while a patient rides a stationary bike, rates of cardiovascular disease have skyrocketed
Excluding those with high blood pressure, other forms of cardiovascular disease – coronary heart disease, heart failure and stroke – affects nine percent of American adults.
Still, high blood pressure is a top risk factor for the development of other life-threatening forms of cardiovascular disease.
In fact, research suggests that if high blood pressure, diabetes high cholesterol were controlled and Americans instead adopted healthy lifestyles, some 80 percent of cardiovascular disease could be prevented.
‘Research has shown that eliminating high blood pressure could have a larger impact on CVD deaths than the elimination of all other risk factors among women and all except smoking among men,’ said AHA president Dr Ivor Benjamin, director of the cardiovascular center at the Medical Collage of Wisconsin.
That could mean knocking heart disease down from its long-held top-ranking spot on the list of leading causes of death.
‘As one of the most common and dangerous risk factors for heart disease and stroke, this overwhelming presence of high blood pressure can’t be dismissed from the equation in our fight against cardiovascular disease,’ Dr Benjamin added.
High blood pressure goes hand-in-hand with obesity, another major risk factor for cardiovascular disease.
As rates of obesity have continued to soar in the US, so have heart disease rates and deaths.
Encouragingly, the AHA’s annual report did find that Americans are doing more to combat their obesity risks than in years past.
Younger generations are particularly proactive. More than half of students do some form of muscle-strengthening activity at least three times a week.
And far fewer adults report being physically inactive. In 2005, 40.2 percent of Americans said they did not exercise at all. That number has fallen by a third to just 26.9 percent in 2016.
Still, it’s an uphill battle against obesity.
Nearly 40 percent of American adults remained obese in the period from 2015 to 2016, as did 18.5 percent of youths.
In addition to obesity, smoking is a significant risk factor for heart disease as well – and one Americans have made a good deal of progress against.
As of 2015, 79 percent of adults identified themselves as nonsmokers, up from 73 percent in 1999.
Fewer children and adolescents than ever are smoking combustible cigarettes, with the rate of smoking among 12- to 17-year-olds falling by two thirds since 2002 – although an alarming number ow vape, and e-cigarettes may be just as bad for their hearts.
The heart is such a central organ, and everything that we do with our bodies affects it, including sleeping.
This year, the AHA’s report included a new section on the subject, and found that either too much or too little sleep (more than eight hours or less than seven) raises the risk of death from any cause.
Fortunately, some 65 percent of Americans are getting more than their seven hour a night (though it’s not clear how much more), meaning their hearts and minds are well-rested.
Despite some of its more encouraging data, the AHA still stressed that taking early steps to prevent high blood pressure and other risk factors is key to shaking the tight hold cardiovascular still has on the US, where rates are climbing while they fall in the rest of the word.