Kaiser Says Improvements In Heart Disease, Stroke Mortality Leveling Off

A new study conducted by researchers at Oakland-based Kaiser Permanente and published in the journal JAMA Cardiology has concluded that the improvements in mortality rates for heart disease and strokes are leveling off.

            According to the study, which focused on publicly available data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the morality rate for heart disease declined 3.7% on average per year between 2000 and 2011. For strokes, they declined even further, an average of 4.5% per year.

           However, since 2011, the decline in mortality rates for both categories were less than 1% annually, data show.

            "Despite significant improvements in heart health over the past century, the increase in these chronic health conditions in epidemic proportions may be driving the recent slowdown," said Jamal S. Rana, M.D., a Kaiser cardiologist and the study's senior author.

            The study has concluded that recent increases in the rates of obesity and diabetes, both of which are connected to heart disease and strokes, may be connected to the slowing of the mortality rate.

             "Despite significant improvements in heart health over the past century, the increase in these chronic health conditions in epidemic proportions may be driving the recent slowdown," Rana said.

            The new data suggest that the American Heart Association's goal of reducing the mortality rate from heart disease and strokes by 20% between 2010 and 2020 may be in jeopardy.