Coronary Heart Disease and Prevention in the United States

Jeremiah Brown and Gerald O'Connor write that since 2000, there have been substantial reductions in the rates of heart disease–related deaths in the United States. However, the substantial geographic variation in these rates suggests an association with socioeconomic factors. Heart disease remains the leading cause of death in the United States: in 2006, it resulted in 631,636 deaths in this country. 1 Coronary heart disease accounts for 68% of these deaths and affects more than a million Americans each year. 2 Common risk factors for coronary heart disease include hypertension, high cholesterol levels, cigarette smoking, obesity, and a family history of heart disease. Most of these risk factors are modifiable by means of a healthy lifestyle or medication, 2 and indeed, the rate of death due to heart disease has been decreasing since 1950 thanks to reductions in cigarette smoking and hypertension. . . .