February 12, 2019 – Heart Disease Prevalence

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Anchor lead: Heart disease is very, very common, Elizabeth Tracey reports

Almost half of all adult Americans have some form of heart disease, a recent look at federal statistics reveals. Seth Martin, a cardiologist at Johns Hopkins, reacts to the statistics.

Martin: Yikes. 48% we knew it was high but I think this is a call to action, again a reminder that heart disease is such a prevalent disease amongst our US population.  :12

Martin notes that women in particular should be aware.

Martin: Heart disease is still the number one killer among women. It’s not breast cancer its actually heart disease. So this is a reminder that we should be looking at what are the steps we can take to really live the healthiest lifestyle to mitigate the risk of heart disease.  :18

The best advice remains preventing heart disease before it happens by not smoking, watching both weight and diet, remaining physically active, and controlling cholesterol and blood pressure, Martin says, and these should be lifelong practices. At Johns Hopkins, I’m Elizabeth Tracey.