Fewer people today smoke or have high cholesterol than 20 years age. But, confounding the expectations of health officials, the overall risk of developing cardiovascular disease in the United States in the last two decades has remained virtually unchanged. Part of the reason likely has to do with a persistent inability to control high blood pressure on a national scale.
Researchers from the University of Texas and elsewhere looked at data from the landmark National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES), which includes vital health information on thousands of people ages 20-75 that was collected between 1994 and 1998 and then again in 2005 and 2006. Results, presented at the American Heart Association’s 2009 Scientific Sessions, showed that approximately 53% of people faced an elevated risk of cardiovascular disease in the earlier portion of the study compared to 55% in the most current analysis. (The apparent 2% increase was determined to be statistically insignificant.)
Researchers say that the lack of positive change has to do with two alarming countertrends: blood glucose levels (an indicator of diabetes) and blood pressure have not dropped along with smoking and cholesterol. In fact these indicators have increased and are off-setting many of the gains made by the apparently effective large-scale public service campaigns against smoking. Plus, even with lower cholesterol levels, the average national body mass index (BMI, a measure of weight in relation to height) has actually increased. All in all, the data can serve as a good reminder of how important blood pressure control is to reducing your overall cardiovascular risk and of how far we have yet to go in meeting our national blood pressure goals.
Source: Healthcommunities
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