Dec. 17--Like their counterparts throughout the United States, fewer patients in northwestern Wisconsin appear to be dying from heart attacks and strokes, an improvement local medical experts attribute to more aggressive treatment and healthier lifestyles.
A study released Monday by the American Heart Association shows a 30 percent decline in deaths from heart attacks and strokes between 1999 and 2006, meaning about 190,000 fewer people died from those maladies in 2006 compared with seven years earlier.
Comparable data for this part of Wisconsin isn't available, but physicians at local hospitals said they're seeing evidence of that same trend here.
"We certainly have the impression that the number of deaths from those factors is decreasing," said Daniel Kincaid, a Luther Midelfort cardiologist.
Several factors are responsible for the drop in deaths, including an increased focus on transporting heart attack and stroke victims as quickly as possible to Luther and Sacred Heart hospitals, the only two hospitals in this part of the state with cardiac catheterization labs. Both hospitals also have accredited stroke centers.
In the past couple of years, both hospitals have revamped their procedures to focus on getting patients to cardiac cath labs as quickly as possible, a factor partly responsible for reduced mortality figures, Kincaid said. Technological advances such as electrocardiograms for patients being transported to hospitals also have helped save lives.
"We're treating heart attacks much more aggressively now than we used to," Kincaid said.
More aggressive post-heart attack and stroke treatments also have helped reduce death rates, said Rajesh Maddikunta, a cardiologist with Eau Claire Medical Clinic who practices at Sacred Heart.
Postoperative procedures are used more frequently, he said, and patients who have experienced heart problems typically undergo cardiac rehabilitation programs that often get them on the path to a more physically active lifestyle, reducing the chances of future problems.
"I'm sure those factors have made a difference," Maddikunta said.
In addition, improved cholesterol and blood-pressure medications are responsible for the decreased heart attack and stroke mortality rates, he said. Studies show those drugs not only reduce cholesterol and blood pressure but improve the health of blood vessels.
The increased use of internal and automatic external defibrillators also has helped lower death rates, Kincaid said.
While improved and aggressive medical treatment plays a role in saving lives, so too does an increased awareness of the benefits of a healthy lifestyle, according to the study.
About half the decline in deaths was due to dietary improvements, said Don Lloyd-Jones, lead author of the report and an associate professor of medicine and preventive medicine at the Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. People report consuming less saturated fat, trans fats and salt, and smoking less, he said.
Over the seven years of the study, total cholesterol in men 40 and older and women 60 and older dropped from an average of 204 milligrams per deciliter to 199, a decline that likely was due to more aggressive cholesterol guidelines set in 2001.
Nonetheless, researchers already are noticing a small uptick in cardiovascular disease deaths among people ages 35 to 54 as a result of obesity, physical inactivity and Type 2 diabetes, Lloyd-Jones said. That could signal an end to the declining overall death rates, he said.
Add to that a climbing teen smoking rate and future deaths attributable to heart attacks and strokes could climb, Kincaid said, reversing decreases since the 1980s.
Maddikunta also is troubled by those statistics. However, they can be improved by people visiting their physician regularly to catch problems such as high blood pressure, which he termed "a silent killer," in their early stages. Continued education about the benefits of eating right and exercising also is necessary, he said.
"We have made big improvements (with heart attack and stroke prevention), and we need to continue those efforts," he said.
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