A new study found hospitalization and death rates related to heart disease and stroke improved significantly over the past decade.
Study lead Harlan Krumholz worked with his colleagues from Yale of School Medicine to study the data of 34 million people who received health care between 1999 and 2011. Researchers focused their analysis on the hospitalization death rates, age, sex, and location of the participants.
Results of the analysis revealed that hospitalization rates dropped by the end of 2011. Numbers improved by 38 percent for heart attack, 84 percent for sudden chest pain, 31 percent for heart failure, and 34 percent for ischemic stroke.
A similar improvement was also seen in death rates - death related to sudden chest pain dropped by 21 percent, 23 percent for heart attacks, and 13 percent for heart failure and stroke.
Researchers attributed the decline in the patients' willingness to change their lifestyles, as well as improvement in care and prevention provided. Krumholz believed that new treatments for high blood pressure and extensive use of statins also contributed to the development.
"Interestingly, these improvements happened in a period when there were no real 'miracle' clinical advancements," said Krumholz. "Rather, we saw consistent improvements in the use of evidence-based treatments and medications and an increase in quality improvement initiatives using registries and other data to track performance and support improvement efforts - as well as a strong emphasis on heart-healthy lifestyles and behaviors."
The researchers admitted that further study is needed to pinpoint the actual cause of the decline in heart disease and stroke-related hospitalizations and deaths because these diseases remain to be the leading country's leading cause of death.
The results of the study were published in the Aug. 18 issue of Circulation.
