The growing awareness among Americans on the benefits of adopting healthier lifestyles and the availability of better treatments have apparently made important contributions in reducing the incidence of heart disease and stroke-related hospitalizations and deaths in the U.S.
Over the past decade, the number of deaths and hospitalizations due to heart disease and stroke has significantly dropped in the U.S., results of a large study involving Medicare patients have found. Researchers said that changes in lifestyle, the adoption of preventive measures and the availability of better treatments resulted in the dramatic decline.
For the study published in the journal of the American Heart Association (AHA), Circulation, on Aug. 18, Harlan Krumholz, a professor of Cardiology at Yale School of Medicine and colleagues, gathered the data of nearly 34 million Medicare patients for the period covering the years 1999 to 2011 and found that by the end of 2011, the rate of patients admitted to the hospital because of heart attack dropped by 38 percent.
The researchers also saw significant reduction in hospitalization rates associated with stroke and other cardiovascular diseases. Hospitalizations due to unstable angina, the sudden chest pain that often precedes a heart attack dropped dramatically by 83.8 percent; heart failure-related hospitalizations were down by more than 30 percent and hospitalizations caused by ischemic stroke dropped to 33.6 percent.
The risks of death within one year of hospitalization because of stroke and cardiovascular disease also decreased. For patients with unstable angina, the risks of death dropped by 21 percent; for heart attack patients, 23 percent, and patients with heart failure and stroke both saw a reduction in mortality risks by 13 percent. Krumholz said that the interesting thing about the improvement is that it occurred during a period when no miracle clinical advancements occurred.
"Rather, we saw consistent improvements in the use of evidence-based treatments and medications and an increase in quality improvement initiatives using registries and other data to track performance and support improvement efforts - as well as a strong emphasis on heart-healthy lifestyles and behaviors," Krumholz said.
AHA spokesman Gregg Fonarow, a cardiology professor at the University of California, Los Angeles, said that from 1999 to 2011, the period covered in the study, AHA, the American College of Cardiology and American Stroke Association led substantial efforts to boost the quality of care and outcomes for heart attack, heart failure and stroke patients.
"This analysis suggests these efforts contributed to a substantial number of lives saved and hospitalizations avoided," Fonarow said.
