The International Pandemic of Chronic Cardiovascular Disease
- Author Affiliations: Department of Medicine, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, Chicago, Ill.
- Corresponding Author: Mary McGrae McDermott, MD, Department of Medicine, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, 676 N St Clair, Suite 200, Chicago, IL 60611 (mdm608{at}northwestern.edu).
Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text.
During the final decades of the 20th century, major medical advances in the prevention and treatment of cardiovascular diseases contributed to declining rates of death from cardiovascular disease.1-2 Despite these recent reductions in overall cardiovascular death rates in the United States, the overall incidence of acute myocardial infarction (MI) has not declined and has actually increased among women.2 Cardiovascular disease remains the leading cause of death worldwide and is a major cause of disability. The epidemic of obesity and associated diabetes is expected to further increase the prevalence of cardiovascular disease in the 21st century.3-4
As the ability to increase survival after an acute cardiovascular event improves, greater numbers of men and women will live with chronic, clinically manifest cardiovascular disease. The US Census Bureau estimates that in 2010, 40 million adults will be aged 65 years or older.5 Many of these …
