CARDIOVASCULAR DISEASE

Cardiovascular Disease: Will it be your cause of death?

Odds are that you will die from some from of cardiovascular disease - our nation's deadliest epidemic - be it a heart attack, stroke, high blood pressure, or other disease of the heart and blood vessels. In the United States, one person dies from cardiovascular disease approximately every thirty-five seconds. Combine that overwhelming death toll with the staggering $403 billion estimated direct and indirect cost of cardiovascular disease for 2006, and you begin to grasp the magnitude of this huge public health concern.

More fearful that you will die of cancer? Recent American Heart Association statistics reveal that you are much more likely to succumb to a disease of the heart or blood vessels. In 2003, almost twice as many Americans died of cardiovascular disease as of cancer. In fact, cardiovascular disease claims more lives than the next four leading causes - cancer, respiratory diseases, accidents, and diabetes - combined.

If you are a woman and think you gender will protect you, you should know that in 2003 almost half a million American women died of cardiovascular disease, mainly heart disease. In fact, according to the American Heart Association's 2003 statistics, a woman's odds of dying from heart disease far surpassed her chances of dying from breast cancer (1 in 30 women who died did so of breast cancer, while 1 in 2.6 died of cardiovascular disease). Furthermore, more women succumbed to cardiovascular disease than men - approximately 60,000 more women than men. The truth is that women are different from men, both in their symptoms of heart disease and in the propensity of women to exhibit a different but just as deadly type of heart disease, "coronary microvascular disease" or a hardening of the minute arteries that feed the heart (but are too tiny to show up on a typical angiogram). According to new findings, high cholesterol and high blood pressure are among the leading causes of this condition.

The good news is that lifestyle modifications will provide you with a powerful measure of protection against diseases of the heart and blood vessels, including microvascular disease. By following the easy ten-step Cholesterol Down Plan outlined in Sitemap 4 of this website, you can lower your "bad" cholesterol and maybe even save your life.