Prevention Works:  CDC Strategies for a Heart–Healthy and Stroke–Free America

This document is also available in Portable Document Format (PDF - 3165K). Learn more about PDFs.

Sections Health & Economic Costs Priorities of CDC Prevention Opportunities CDC's National Reach Examples from State Programs Prevention Strategies Tools and Services Data for Decision–Making Public Health Action Plan Download the File

"Prevention Works: CDC Strategies for a Heart–Healthy and Stroke Free America" provides a snapshot of heart diseases and stroke prevention at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. It also provides information on the health and economic costs of chronic diseases to our nation and outlines CDC's prevention strategies.

Please visit the CDC website on heart disease and stroke prevention at http://www.cdc.gov/dhdsp/. Among the many topics covered are:

• Summary of the states' heart disease and stroke prevention programs
• Data by county
• Other publications on cardiovascular health
• Fact sheets
• A Public Health Action Plan to Prevent Heart Disease and Stroke

Health and Economic Costs of Heart Disease and Stroke:
Cardiovascular Disease (CVD)

A National Tragedy

• In the United States, heart disease and stroke are the 1st and 3rd leading killers. More than 100 people die of these diseases every hour.
• Over 71 million Americans have some form of cardiovascular disease (CVD).
• CVD is the leading cause of health–related disparities.

Disabling

• Heart Disease and stroke are among the leading causes of disability.
• Heart Attack: 66% of victims never fully recover.
• Stroke: Many survivors cannot perform daily tasks; 20% will require institutional care.

Costly

• $403 billion will be spent in 2006 ($258 billion in health care costs; $146 billion in lost productivity).
• Medicare: CVD hospitalizations cost $30 billion in 2002.  Heart disease is the leading hospital diagnosis.

Growing

• 90% of middle–aged Americans will develop high blood pressure in their lifetime; 70% who have it now do not have it controlled.
• Unless prevention and control initiatives are escalated, there will be an increase in Americans who die of heart disease and stroke or a sharp rise in the number of survivors with dependency.

Prevention Works:
Priorities of CDC's Heart Disease and Stroke Prevention Program

• Control high blood pressure
• Control high cholesterol
• Know signs and symptoms, call 9–1–1
• Improve Emergency Response
• Improve quality of care (prevent first and second events; control risk factors and the diseases)
• Eliminate disparities

Prevention and disease control can reduce heart attacks and strokes, deaths from these diseases, and the disability suffered by heart disease and stroke survivors.

Prevention Opportunities

Control High Blood Pressure

• A 12 to 13 point reduction in systolic blood pressure can reduce heart attacks 21%, strokes 37%, and total cardiovascular deaths 25%.
• 65 million people have high blood pressure; an additional 59 million are pre–hypertensive.
• 70% of people with high blood pressure do not have it under control.

Control High Cholesterol

• A 10% decrease in total cholesterol levels may reduce the incidence of coronary heart disease by approximately 30%.
• In 2003, nearly 100 million people were told they had total blood cholesterol levels of 200 mg/dl or higher.
• Over 80% of people with high blood cholesterol do not have it under control.

Know Signs and Symptoms, Call 9–1–1

• More than half of Americans don't know the symptoms!
• Stroke: 17% of  the public recognizes the major warning signs of a stroke and know to call 9–1–1.
• Heart Attack: only 11% of the public recognize the signs and symptoms of a heart attack and know to call 9–1–1.

Improve Emergency Response

• Only 3%–8% of eligible stroke victims get the emergency thrombolytic therapy that can lead to recovery.
• 47% of heart attack deaths occur before an ambulance arrives.
• 48% of stroke deaths occur before hospitalization.

Improve Quality of Care

• Prevent first and second events; control risk factors and diseases.
• Expand the use of guidelines, reminder systems, preventive care, the chronic care model, patient databases, and behavioral counseling.

Eliminate Disparities

• 27% of the black–white life expectancy gap is due to heart disease, and 8% due to stroke.
• Only 18% of Hispanics have their high blood pressure under control, compared with 30% of whites.
• In 2002, age–adjusted death rates for heart disease were 30% higher for African Americans than for whites, and stroke death rates were 41% higher.

CDC's National Reach

Fiscal Year 2005 Funding for State Heart Disease and Stroke Prevention Programs

[A text version of this graphic is also available.]

CDC Funds Heart Disease and Stroke Prevention Programs in State Health Departments...

• ...and provides guidance for these programs. States are funded at two levels: capacity building (approximately $350,000 per state) and basic implementation (approximately $1.25 million per state).  In fiscal year 2005, CDC funded 32 states and the District of Columbia (14 for basic implementation and 19 for capacity building).

CDC Funds Regional Stroke Networks...

• ...to increase stroke awareness and prevention activities across state boundaries, and enhance prevention efforts of state heart disease and stroke prevention programs. These networks include Tri–State (North Carolina lead; includes Georgia and South Carolina), Great Lakes (Illinois lead; includes Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio, and Wisconsin), and Delta States (Alabama lead; includes Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Tennessee).

CDC Also Funds the Paul Coverdell National Acute Stroke Registries...

• ...in Georgia, Illinois, North Carolina and Massachusetts.

Taking Action:
Examples from State Heart Disease and Stroke Prevention Programs

Wisconsin: 21% Increase in Blood Pressure Control

• Wisconsin worked with 20 health plans to collect Health Plan Employer Data and Information Set (HEDIS) measures related to cardiovascular health. Based on these data, health plans made quality improvements for blood pressure control. Among participating health plans, the percentage of patients who had their high blood pressure controlled increased from 48% to 58%, a 21% relative increase.

South Carolina: Taking Local Action in African American Communities

• South Carolina worked in collaboration with local community partners to promote heart health in African American communities. Several faith organizations implemented specific policy and environmental strategies appropriate to their needs that address high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and tobacco use prevention.

Montana: Improving Emergency Response to Strokes

• When a stroke happens, calling 9–1–1 in time to prevent disability or death depends on people knowing the signs of stroke. Montana has launched a stroke signs public education campaign in the Great Falls area. Montana is also working with local hospital and health systems, a stroke task force, and local fire and ambulance services to improve Emergency Medical Services and hospital response to stroke. Improvements that get an ischemic stroke sufferer to appropriate thrombolytic therapy within 3 hours can mean the difference between recovery and long–term disability from stroke.

New York: Businesses Provide Employees With Heart Healthy Options

• New York assesses work sites using the "Heart Check" tool and helps them make changes to promote their employees' heart health. Between 1995 and 2004, approximately 639 participating work sites increased policy and environmental supports for heart health.  On average, work sites experienced a 62% increase in these supports. Many of these work sites are now making blood pressure screening available, offering low–fat food choices, and instituting policies for smoke–free workplaces.

Cardiovascular Disease Collaborative: State Heart Disease and Stroke Prevention Programs Bring State of the Art Techniques in Disease Management to Those Most in Need

• Approximately one–half of the 33 CDC–funded state heart disease and stroke prevention programs participate in the CVD Collaborative through which they support federally qualified health centers (FQHCs) in their state to bringing state of the art techniques in disease management and other public health expertise to those most in need. Techniques such as patient data management systems and training to improve blood pressure measurement have produced impressive results. For example, among participating health centers during an initial 9 month period, the percentage of people with hypertension who have their blood pressure controlled increased by 5 percentage points, and the number of patients with coronary artery disease on aspirin or other antithrombotic agents increased by 39 percentage points. The CVD Collaborative, which builds on a similar diabetes model, is a collaboration of Health Resources and Services Administration, CDC, the Agency for Health Care Research and Quality, state CVD programs, and FQHCs.

Prevention Strategies:
An Outline for States

Health Care Setting

• Promote policy, environmental, and system strategies to improve quality of care. For example, promote the chronic care model and the adoption of evidence–based guidelines in hospitals (e.g., Get with the Guidelines [American Heart Association], Guidelines Applied to Practice [American College of Cardiology]).
   
• Establish policies to treat stroke as an emergency in hospitals, to provide immediate diagnostic evaluation and treatment within 3 hours, and to have a neurologist on call at all times.
   
• Provide education and public awareness on use of 9–1–1, emergency medical services, signs and symptoms of heart attack and stroke.

Work Site

• Provide health care coverage for employees and their families that includes primary and secondary heart disease and stroke prevention services as well as rehabilitation services.
   
• Promote adequate cost coverage/reimbursement for prescription drugs required for primary and secondary prevention of heart disease and stroke.
   
• Provide work site detection and follow–up services with employees for control of blood pressure and cholesterol.
   
• Ensure employee training and education on signs and symptoms of heart attack and stroke, Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (CPR), and automated emergency defibrillators.
   
• Assess policies and environmental supports for heart–healthy work sites and provide education on strategies to enhance environments for heart health.

Community

• Raise awareness of signs and symptoms of heart attack and stroke through educational initiatives.
   
• Promote enhanced 9–1–1 services statewide.
   
• Promote emergency medical service training and protocols related to heart attack and stroke.
   
• Promote the use of community guidelines.
   
• Promote policies, system changes, and educational opportunities related to blood pressure and cholesterol management and the importance of heart health.

School

• Raise awareness of signs and symptoms of heart attack and stroke, and the importance of calling 9–1–1; implement awareness interventions in the schools, and with related groups such as Parent Teacher Organizations.
   
• Work with Coordinated School Health Programs to implement curricula, consistent with state education standards, to increase awareness among students regarding signs and symptoms of heart attack and stroke and the importance of calling 9–1–1.
   
• Promote school–based CPR training for faculty, staff, and students through after–school programs and extra credit opportunities.
   
• Implement policy–and systems–change interventions to address employees' access to care and management of blood pressure and cholesterol.
   
• Approach schools as work sites (see work site).

CDC Provides Tools and Services for the Nation

Standardization of Lipid Measurements

CDC's Lipid Reference Laboratory (LRL) (located in the National Center for Environmental Health) ensures that all lipid and lipoprotein measurements are reliable by standardizing measurements in laboratories across the nation. Standardization is provided to labs participating in longitudinal studies and clinical trials, clinical and hospital laboratories, manufacturers of diagnostic products, and state public health laboratories.

Sourcebook for Community Health Workers

The Community Health Workers' Heart Disease and Stroke Sourcebook resource for training community health workers (CHWs) who work to increase public knowledge about heart disease and stroke and help eliminate health disparities. Topics include high blood pressure and regimens (including medicines), communicating with doctors, diabetes, atrial fibrillation, coronary heart disease, heart attack, stroke, heart failure, and the CHW's role in supporting life–style changes and patient self–care is being developed by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (including CDC, the Health Service, and the Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion), and the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association.  It will be available in  2006.

Business Tool Kit

CDC has developed the Cardiovascular Health and Business Tool Kit to help employers assess which health benefits and work site health promotion services can improve cardiovascular health and reduce disease, disability, and costs associated with heart disease and stroke.

Communication Tool Kits

CDC currently provides two heart disease and stroke prevention communication guides.  CDCynergy 2001—Cardiovascular Health Edition is a communication planning tool in CD–ROM format. To request a copy, e–mail CDC at cdcinfo@cdc.gov. CDC also provides a Communication Guide for educating key constituencies about how to make changes in communities, health care settings, work sites, and schools to promote cardiovascular health, and how to increase public awareness of signs and symptoms of a heart attack and stroke.

CDC Provides Data for Decision–Making

CDC's Paul Coverdell National Acute Stroke Registry Addresses the Issue of Improving and Measuring Quality of Care for Stroke Victims in Hospitals

Four states (Georgia, Illinois, North Carolina and Massachusetts) are funded to implement state–based stroke registries. CDC's Paul Coverdell National Acute Stroke Registry addresses this problem by improving and measuring quality of care for stroke victims in hospitals. Stroke affects an estimated 5.4 million Americans and their families and is a leading cause of long–term disability in the United States. Although thrombolytic medications applied within 3 hours of a stroke can improve outcomes of ischemic stroke and can sometimes mean the difference between recovery and long–term disability, only about 3–8% of eligible patients receive this therapy.

CDC Tracks State and National Trends in Cardiovascular Health

CDC identifies and tracks trends in heart disease and stroke principally using data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) and Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS), a unique data system that provides state–specific data. For example, the number of people reporting multiple risk factors for cardiovascular disease is on the rise. Using BRFSS data, CDC recently identified a 10% or more increase in the prevalence of multiple risk factors for cardiovascular disease (CVD) in 36 states from 1991 to 1999. This increase is seen in both men and women and in all groups defined by race or ethnicity, age and education level.

* Risk factors included reported high blood pressure, high blood cholesterol, current smoking, obesity and diabetes. Although physical inactivity is an important factor, data were not available for each year and thus, were not included.
Source: Greenlund et al. Archive Intern Med 2004;164:181–8

[A text version of this graphic is also available.]

CDC's Heart Disease and Stroke Atlases Provide Local Data and Identify Disparities

To address the serious racial, ethnic, and geographic disparities in heart disease and stroke mortality, CDC has published a series of atlases about heart disease and stroke. The atlases provide, for the first time, an extensive series of national and state maps that demonstrate local areas of need and show local differences in heart disease and stroke death rates. Data are provided for men and women and for the five largest U.S. racial and ethnic groups (American Indians and Alaska Natives, Asians and Pacific Islanders, blacks, Hispanics, and whites.) County–specific data and state maps are available at http://www.cdc.gov/hdsp/library/maps/index.htm.

Heart Disease Death Rates, 1996–2000
Adults Ages 35 Years and Older, by County

Stroke Death Rates, 1991–1998
Adults Ages 35 Years and Older, by County

Discovering What Works: Prevention Research

CDC supports research to develop and evaluate effective tools and strategies for use by prevention programs and others interested in taking action to improve heart disease and stroke outcomes. Current research areas include disparities between population groups, primary and secondary prevention, policy and environmental strategies, emerging risk factors, evaluation, health economics, global issues, and the public health impact of human genome findings.

Spotlight: CDC is developing a Prevention Research Center Network in Cardiovascular Health Intervention Research and Translation to develop and implement prevention research activities that emphasize cardiovascular health promotion.

Leadership and Collaboration

Cardiovascular Health Across CDC: Because of the interrelation of heart disease and stroke outcomes with healthy eating, physical activity, and tobacco use, as well as diabetes and obesity, the Heart Disease and Stroke Prevention Program reaches out across CDC to coordinate units and programs at CDC that address these issues and can help contribute to the nation's overall cardiovascular health.

National Collaboration: As CDC works towards achieving a heart–healthy and stroke–free America, the agency also collaborates closely with other federal agencies, states, communities, national voluntary organizations, and private–sector organizations with an interest in heart disease and stroke prevention. Turning the tide to improve heart disease and stroke prevention will require action from many sectors of society. CDC plays a vital role in providing leadership for the prevention steps that our nation can take.

Spotlight: The Healthy People 2010 Partnership for Heart Disease and Stroke Prevention fosters national achievement of the Healthy People 2010 goal for heart disease and stroke prevention, which includes the prevention of risk factors, detection and treatment of risk factors, early identification and treatment of heart attacks and strokes, and a reduction in the number of recurrent cardiovascular events. Together, CDC and its partners support and coordinate the partnership. Participants include the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association and six agencies and offices of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services: CDC, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, the Indian Health Service, the National Institutes of Health's National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute and National Institute for Neurological Disorders and Stroke, and the Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion.

A Public Health Action Plan to Prevent Heart Disease and Stroke

A Public Health Action Plan to Prevent Heart Disease and Stroke is a groundbreaking national collaboration that will propel national prevention efforts. This plan supports an integrated, comprehensive public health strategy that encompasses two fundamental requirements (effective communication and strategic leadership, partnerships, and organization) and five essential components (taking action, strengthening capacity, evaluating impact, advancing knowledge, and engaging in regional and global partnerships). The National Forum for Heart Disease and Stroke Prevention, representing some 50 national and international organizations, serves as the vehicle for implementing the Action Plan. The three lead partners are the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association, the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials, and CDC, which provides core support for convening the national forum and implementing the Action Plan.

At the Third National Forum in April 2005, participants built on the foundation of previous years by reviewing the plans and accomplishments of the task groups in the seven priority areas. Participants also laid the groundwork for adopting a long–term organizational structure for the National Forum.

• Effective Communication:  Establish a media task force.
   
• Strategic Leadership, Partnerships, and Organization: Convene public health agencies at national, state, and local levels.
   
• Taking Action: Commission a group to address priority policies for heart disease and stroke prevention.
   
• Strengthening Capacity: Commission a group to define infrastructure and staff competencies required for the full range of CVH activities by state and local health agencies.
   
• Evaluating Impact: Bring key partners and stakeholders together to address gaps in heart disease and stroke–related data systems and convene a planning committee for a "watershed" conference to address the science of evaluating public health programs for policy and environmental change.
   
• Advancing Knowledge: Convene a group to address the prevention research agenda for heart disease and stroke prevention.
   
• Engaging in Regional and Global Partnerships: Establish a steering group to oversee assessment of U.S. policies directly relevant to global heart disease and stroke prevention.
   

Date last reviewed: 08/29/2008
Content source: Division for Heart Disease and Stroke Prevention, National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion