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Know The Risks, And Take Heart In Your Health

Tribune photo by JASON BEHNKEN

Dr. William S. Reed, of Christian Medical Foundation in Tampa, examines a patient. Many folks, who are unaware that they have high blood pressure, are at serious risk for heart disease.

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By MARY SHEDDEN | The Tampa Tribune

Published: February 5, 2009

Despite significant advancements in the past decade, heart disease remains the No. 1 killer in the United States today.

More than 652,000 people died from heart disease in 2005; another 24 million are living with a diagnosed heart condition, says the most recent information from Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Those numbers are nearly 26 percent lower than a decade ago. Still, they serve as the motivation for ongoing efforts by the American Heart Association to decrease the major risk factors, says Timothy Gardner, M.D., president of the organization that recognizes February as American Heart Month.

Gardner, a cardiac surgeon in Delaware, recently visited Tampa and spoke with 4you about the major risk factors for heart disease: high blood pressure, obesity, diabetes, tobacco use and a lack of exercise.

4you: The American Heart Association supports clean indoor air legislation at the state level and other federal regulations on tobacco use. Why?

Timothy Gardner: On the individual basis, tobacco use is the most important modifiable risk factor; 21 percent of Americans still smoke. Those 21 percent need to do everything they can to stop smoking.

We as medical professionals need to help people, because many of those are people who have tried multiple times to stop smoking. There are programs and medications to help people.

In Scotland, recent research showed that they legislated against tobacco in public areas, and there was a dramatic reduction in the rates of acute heart attacks in both smokers and, especially, in nonsmokers. ...We're talking about clean air in indoor public places, and that's where it can make a difference.

4you: A diagnosis of high blood pressure is when some people first realize they are at risk for heart disease. What should people know and do to reduce their risk of hypertension?

TG: Too many people do not know what their blood pressure is, and they are unaware of the fact that they have marginally or frankly high blood pressure. So our message to people is know your numbers. Normal adult blood pressure rates are 120 or below systolic and 80 or below diastolic.

If you have hypertension, there are a number of effective medications. But what we found is that half of the people who begin taking medication don't sustain it because they may have side effects or they don't like the idea of taking medicine.

It has been shown time and again that effective treatment of high blood pressure will reduce your risk of cardiac events, heart attacks and so on. ...The message is know whether you are at risk, and if you are at risk, take the medication.

4you: Obesity plays a part in the creation of many heart disease risk factors, What are the best ways for a person who is overweight or obese to start addressing the problem?

TG: A lot of cardiovascular risk can be managed by lifestyle modification: obviously weight loss, proper diet, regular physical activity, a lack of smoking and, I would say, this idea that is not so well-defined, management of stress.

Obesity affects you in so many ways. However, it is a challenge for many people. It's a behavior modification challenge, and it's not easy. There's no easy medication or pill you can take. One thing we promote hard is physical activity.

Thirty minutes of walking a day, everybody can do that. Even if you're overweight and not fit, you can walk at a slow pace. We really are promoting that aggressively as a way to deal with obesity.

We're talking about behavioral challenges. We're in a culture where physical inactivity has become a norm. We drive two blocks to the supermarket. The kids get picked up from school or take school buses. They don't walk. Physical education has been eliminated in a lot of schools.

4you: Why is it important for the AHA to spend so much of its efforts on information campaigns and legislation aimed at combating obesity?

TG: We're supporting menu labeling laws, that's a new development. We believe that information, that knowledge, is powerful. We're supporting the initiatives in places like one in New York City where they are forcing restaurant chains to publish the calories with portions on menus.

We believe one of the things that has happened in our society that we've supersized portions, and eat-all-you-can things have become the norm in restaurants

We have seen a steady increase in the incidence of overweight and obesity - 60 percent of the adult population in the United States is either overweight or frankly obese. We know that that threatens the improvements in reductions in the rates of death from heart attack and stroke. We believe it is a public health issue.

We're not saying there needs to be legislation about what people can eat, but we're trying to provide people with tools they need to understand the consequences of inappropriate diets.

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