Improved Dietary & Lifestyle Habits Reduce Heart Disease
Cases of heart disease in the United States have declined in the last several years, down to 6 percent of the population in 2010 compared to 6.7 percent in 2006, health authorities said Thursday.
The drop is likely due to better eating and lifestyle habits, said the report by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which compiled its data from a random telephone survey across all 50 states.
However, a breakdown of the data showed that heart disease remains more pronounced in some parts of the population than others. For instance, the prevalence of self-reported coronary heart diesase (CHD) was 7.8 percent among men but just 4.6 percent among women. The highest number of cases were reported by American Indians and Alaska natives, at 11.6 percent versus those who identified themselves as Asians, native Hawaiians, or Pacific Islanders at 3.9 percent. Education also was a differentiating factor, with a heart disease prevalence of 9.2 percent among those with less than a high school education and those with more than a college education at 4.6 percent.
