Matters of the heart: February calls attention to CVD and prevention

This is February, and Valentine's Day is coming up Saturday, so you might be able to figure out the answer to this question: What is the No. 1 killer in the U. S.? No, it's not chocolate. It's cardiovascular disease, or CVD. And February is designated American Heart Month by the American Heart Association.

American Hearth Month is an effort to educate Americans about heart disease, strokes, high blood pressure and heart failure. There are good reasons to believe this effort works. Thanks to educating us about CVD and new medications, the death rate from heart-related ailments has dropped 26.4 percent from 1995 to 2005, the last year for which complete statistics are available. In 2005, 864,485 Americans died because of CVD.

By comparison, 559,312 of us died in 2005 from the No. 2 killer: cancer. Heart ailments have been the No. 1 killer in the U.S. since 1900 except for the flu pandemic of 1918.

Much of American Heart Month is devoted to education. Learning how to reduce risk factors for heart disease is critical to saving lives. Smoking, overeating, poor diet and lack of exercise are the major contributors to CVD.

And heart diseases kill more women than men, even though heart disease is too often considered a "men's disease." In 2005, 45,000 more women than men died of CVD. More attention is being paid by the medical community to this fact, and women are being diagnosed earlier and receiving better care as a result.

February is a good month to take a few precautions. Have your blood pressure checked. Have a heart screening. Get some help with a heart-healthy diet. Become more active. Heart to Heart, an organization that raises awareness of heart disease in women, is having its annual lunch at 11 a.m. April 17. For information, call 331-5327.