No change in heart disease risk in US: study

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - The risk of developing coronary heart disease (CHD) among U.S. adults did not changed much during roughly the last decade, report researchers from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta in Journal of the American College of Cardiology this month.

Dr. Umed A. Ajani and colleagues compared the 10-year risk of developing heart disease among US adults during the years 1988 to 1994 with that among US adults during the years 1999 to 2002.

To do this they used data for 8,726 participants in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey of 1988 to 1994 and 15,143 participants in the NHAMES-III of 1999 and 2002.

The overall 10-year risk of developing heart disease was low in both surveys -- about 10 percent, they found. The also found that the proportion of participants at intermediate (10 percent to 20 percent) and high (greater than 20 percent) 10-year risk of developing heart disease was similar -- 11 percent and 13 percent, respectively.

Some changes in the prevalence of risk factors were found, such as decreases in smoking over the last decade. There was also an increased prevalence of hypertension (high blood pressure) and more subjects reported treatment for hypertension in 1999-2002 survey. The prevalence of diabetes also increased in the more recent survey.

"The results of this study suggest that a more holistic public health approach to reduce CHD risk may be needed," the investigators say.

"Although targeting individual risk factors to reduce (CHD) prevalence is important, the objective should be to reduce overall risk for disease, which will require a more global approach of multifaceted programs targeting several risk factors."

SOURCE: Journal of the American College of Cardiology September 2002.