New CDC Study Shows Significant Variations in Heart Disease Prevalence from State to State

A new study from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) shows significant differences from state to state in the prevalence of coronary heart disease, heart attack and angina. This report is the first to offer percentages of people with heart disease in all 50 states and U.S. territories.

The data comes from the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System, a telephone survey carried out by each state or territory's health departments. The study, Prevalence of Heart Disease - United States, 2005 appeared in the February 15 edition of the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.

The highest proportions of people with heart disease were found in Alabama, Arizona, Florida, Kentucky, Louisiana, Missouri, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas, West Virginia, and Puerto Rico. A number of these areas have unusually high percentages of residents with more than one heart disease risk factor and high heart disease death rates.

Residents of Colorado, Hawaii, Minnesota, Montana, Nebraska, New Mexico, Wisconsin, Wyoming, Utah, District of Columbia, and the U.S. Virgin Islands had the lowest levels of heart disease.

Of all subjects surveyed, 6.5 percent stated that they had been diagnosed with some form of heart disease by a health care professional. Heart disease is the number one cause of death in the United States.

In people with coronary heart disease, the arteries which lead to the heart become narrowed. Those with angina experience chest pain due to a lack of blood reaching the heart.

"These findings show the importance of preventing and controlling known risk factors for heart disease, such as high blood cholesterol, tobacco use, physical inactivity, high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes, and obesity," said Jonathan Neyer, who headed the study. Neyer is an epidemiologist in CDC's Division for Heart Disease and Stroke Prevention (DHDSP). "We hope this report will help states and U.S. territories better tailor their heart disease prevention efforts."