Seniors make bigger gains against heart disease than younger people

Media outlets report that rates for so-called avoidable deaths from cardiovascular disease declined among people under age 75, but the rates of decline were substantially slower among adults under age 65 and among blacks, according to an analysis by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The Wall Street Journal: Heart-Disease Gains Partly Elude Younger Adults
Fewer people in the U.S. are succumbing to preventable death from cardiovascular disease, but most of the improvement in rates is among the elderly, rather than among younger adults who are also at risk, according to federal data released Tuesday. The rate of so-called avoidable deaths from heart disease, stroke and hypertension declined 29% between 2001 and 2010 in people under age 75, thanks in part to healthier lifestyles and better cardiac care, according to an analysis of U.S. mortality data by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. But the rates of decline were substantially slower among adults under age 65, the agency said. Rates also varied widely depending on where people lived and their race or ethnicity (McKay and Winslow, 9/3).

Medpage Today: CV Deaths Down, But Still Too High, CDC Says
Preventable deaths from cardiovascular disease are on the decline but are still too high, particularly in younger adults and blacks, according to the CDC. The overall rate of avoidable deaths from heart disease, stroke, and hypertensive disease before age 75 declined 29 percent from 2001 to 2010, Linda J. Schieb, MSPH, of the CDC in Atlanta, and colleagues found. But 56 percent of these deaths were in people younger than 65, a group for whom less improvement occurred, the researchers reported in an early release in Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report accompanying the September issue of Vital Signs (Phend, 9/3).