Heart disease prevention would prevent or postpone 33 percent of heart disease deaths
BLOOMINGTON, Minn.—February 18, 2009—If you don't have heart disease, what you do when you get out of bed every morning is about four times more likely to prevent or postpone your death than what your doctor can do when you are hospitalized for heart disease.
Thomas Kottke, MD, senior research clinician, HealthPartners Research Foundation and medical director, Journey Well, recently completed a study showing that activities including physical activity, no tobacco use, omega-3 fatty acids, controlling hypertension and good nutrition would prevent or postpone 33 percent of all heart disease deaths in individuals who are not known to have heart disease. This study focused on getting to people before they are sick or before their first heart disease event.
"This the first time there has been a head to head comparison of prevention and treatment," said Kottke. "The best predictor of what happens to each individual and the biggest opportunity to put off death comes from what you do when you get out of bed each day."
The comparison shows the main opportunities with heart disease prevention and treatment are with exercise, diet and not smoking. The key is to get to people before they get sick and change their lifestyle. These interventions reduce the risk of death from other chronic diseases as well. "This is going to be a huge challenge for Americans," Kottke said. "This is the first time in the history of the world when people have to run from food and buy exercise."
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