Date:
11/19/2007 04:10 PM Study: Deaths from heart disease down in older adults,
but not declining in younger ones
By MIKE STOBBE
AP Medical Writer
ATLANTA (AP) _ For decades, heart disease
death rates have been falling. But a new study shows a troubling
turn — more women under 45 are dying of heart disease
due to clogged arteries, and the death rate for men that age
has leveled off.
Heart experts aren't sure what went wrong,
but they think increasing rates of obesity and other risk
factors are to blame.
The rates will have to be monitored to see
if this is the beginning of a real trend. But if the data
holds, the new study may be an early glimpse of the impact
of escalating obesity and diabetes on U.S. deaths, said Wayne
Rosamond, a University of North Carolina epidemiology professor
and expert on heart disease statistics.
"This could be a harbinger of things
to come," Rosamond said.
To be sure, the overall trend is still positive:
From 1980 through 2002, the death rate from blocked heart
arteries was cut in half for men and women over 35. Improvements
in treatment and preventive measures, including cholesterol-lowering
medications, get the credit.
But what's going on with younger adults is
startling, said Dr. Anthony DeMaria, editor of the Journal
of the American College of Cardiology, which is publishing
the study and released it Monday.
"We have a pretty rosy view of how things
are going in the war against cardiovascular disease,"
DeMaria said. "I view this paper as a wake-up call that
says there is a very important segment of our population that
needs some attention."
Heart disease is the leading cause of death
in the United States, killing almost 700,000 Americans each
year.
Nearly 500,000 of those deaths are attributed
to coronary heart disease, in which fat and plaque clog the
arteries feeding blood to the heart, sometimes called hardening
of the arteries. Heart attacks are a common result.
It can take many years for arteries to get
dangerously blocked. About 93 percent of deaths occur in people
55 and older.
But a combination of factors — including
genetics, obesity and high cholesterol — are sometimes
fatal for younger adults. In 2002, about 25,000 men and 8,000
women ages 35 to 54 died of coronary heart disease.
The study was done by researchers at the U.S.
Centers for Disease Control and Control and Prevention and
Britain's University of Liverpool. They looked at U.S. vital
statistics for artery-related deaths in adults ages 35 and
older for the years 1980 through 2002, the most recent year
for which data was available when the analysis was done.
When they compared age groups, they detected
the worrisome difference. The study found the death rate for
women ages 35 to 44 rose from 1997 to 2002, when the rate
was 8.2 per 100,000 women, the highest it's been since 1987.
In actual numbers, the increase amounts to
roughly 100 added deaths a year of women in that age group.
That's a relatively small impact in the entire U.S. population.
Still, the results are statistically significant
and a legitimate cause for concern, said Dr. Wayne Giles,
director of the CDC's division of adult and community health.
"That's like an MD-88 crashing every
year," he said, referring to a medium-size commuter jet
plane.
The rates for men age 35 to 44 were relatively
stable in the last few years of the study period. The rate
was 26 deaths per 100,000 men in that age group in 2002.
The fact the male rate didn't worsen may indicate
doctors are more likely to suspect heart disease in men that
age than in women, said the CDC's Dr. Earl Ford, a study co-author.
For all ages, the female death rate fell to
261 to 514 per 100,000; the male rate fell to 430 from 898
per 100,000.
———
On the Net:
Journal of the American College of Cardiology:
http://www.onlinejacc.org
