ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Thursday, January 25, 1996 TAG: 9601250038
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-5 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: DALLAS
SOURCE: Associated Press
The number of U.S. deaths from heart and blood vessel-related diseases rose in 1993 after falling steadily since 1980, according to new figures from the American Heart Association.
The association expressed concern Wednesday that the increase may represent a rise in the death rate from cardiovascular diseases. The rate will be calculated later from information that allows it to be adjusted to account for the growth and aging of the population.
``Rates are stabilizing at best or actually going back up,'' said Thomas A. Pearson, a New York cardiologist who is vice chairman of the Dallas-based association's council on epidemiology and prevention.
``It starts this huge shotgun blast of questions'' about possible reasons for the reversal, from public nonchalance about risk factors to cardiologists' treatment of heart attacks, Pearson said.
In 1980, more than 999,000 Americans died from cardiovascular diseases. The figure bottomed out in 1992 at 923,000 and rose to 954,000 in 1993, the last year for which figures are available, the heart association said.
Stroke deaths also climbed, killing almost 150,000 Americans in 1993, about 6,000 more than the previous year, according to the group's annual statistical report.
The report suggests that two factors are to blame for the increases: the general aging of the population and, paradoxically, increased survival rates among heart attack sufferers, who are then more susceptible to death from other heart ailments.
As the large baby boom generation starts turning 50 this year, stroke and heart disease death rates will likely surge over the next few decades, Sidney C. Smith Jr., the heart association president, said in a statement.
Major cardiovascular diseases include coronary heart disease, stroke, hypertension, rheumatic fever and rheumatic heart disease.
From 1983 to 1993, death rates from heart- and blood vessel-related diseases declined by slightly more than 23 percent, from about 238 to 181 per 100,000 people each year, after adjustments for age and population growth.
LENGTH: Short : 48 lines KEYWORDS: FATALITYby CNB