State Program: Tennessee
Capacity Building

The Tennessee Department of Health began receiving funds from CDC in 2001 to support a state heart disease and stroke prevention program.

Burden of Heart Disease and Stroke

• Heart disease is the leading cause of death in Tennessee, accounting for 16,226 deaths or approximately 29% of the state's deaths in 2002. (National Vital Statistics Report 2004;53(5)).

• Stroke is the third leading cause of death, accounting for 3,980 deaths or approximately 7% of the state's deaths in 2002. (National Vital Statistics Report 2004;53(5)).

• According to Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) survey results, adults in Tennessee reported having the following risk factors for heart disease and stroke:
  
  In 2005,
   
  • 30.2% had high blood pressure
  • 32.9% of those screened reported having high blood cholesterol

  In 2006,
   

  • 10.7% had diabetes
  • 22.6% were current smokers
  • 65.3% were overweight or obese (Body Mass Index greater than or equal to 25.0)
  • 28.8% reported no exercise in the prior 30 days

State Highlights

• Tennessee is part of the Delta States Stroke Consortium funded by CDC. The Consortium is led by the Arkansas Department of Public Health and also includes Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama.
   
• The heart disease and stroke prevention program (HDSP) has developed extensive partnerships through the formation of a HDSP Advisory Council and Stroke Systems of Care Taskforce with over 60 members representing public and private health care professionals, businesses, academia and minority community representatives, as well as faith, finance and research representatives.
   
• The HDSP program successfully implemented American Heart Association’s Get With the Guidelines: Stroke, Heart Failure and Coronary Artery Disease Modules in more than 40 hospitals.
   
• In collaboration with the Tennessee Hospital Association and the American Heart and Stroke Association, the program implemented a project to increase the number of Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO) certified primary stroke care centers in Tennessee from one to at least one in each of the three grand division. Tennessee now has six JCAHO certified primary stroke care centers.
   
• The HDSP program is working with Vanderbilt University Hospital and the Stroke Task Force to design a stroke telemedicine project. Stroke telemedicine services will help avoid the long travel time for acute stroke patients to get to primary stroke centers.
   
• The HDSP program partnered with American Heart Association and Tennessee Hospital Association to promote the awareness of signs and symptoms of heart disease and stroke in Tennessee. Two statewide media campaigns in 2006 and one in 2007 were conducted to encourage Tennesseans to know the signs and symptoms of heart attack and stroke, the risk factors (cholesterol, blood pressure, and diabetes, smoking and lack of physical activity/obesity), and take appropriate action to reduce their risk of heart disease and stroke.
   
• The HDSP program in partnership with the American Heart Association, the Regional Minority Health Councils, and other partners is implementing the “Search Your Heart” program across the state.
   
• The HDSP program developed the Burden of Heart Disease and Stroke in Tennessee Summary Report 2006. The report contains various data sets and findings that will help the partners to understand the burden of heart disease and stroke in Tennessee.
   
• The HDSP program completed a detailed county level inventory of heart disease and stroke services and policies. This information will help the program identify gaps and opportunities to partner and integrate with other internal programs and outside partners.
   
• The HDSP program completed a comprehensive heart disease and stroke prevention plan to implement activities in a variety of settings (healthcare, community, schools and worksite settings). The state plan outlines goals and objectives along with responsibilities for specific agencies and internal partners as a part of a coordinated approach.
   
• The HDSP program is promoting evidence-based stroke guidelines to improve standards of care by providing stroke standards of care training to Tennessee health care professionals. Stroke standard of care trainings for pre-hospital and hospital care providers have been provided to over 130 health care professionals.

For more information on heart disease and stroke prevention in the state, visit the Tennessee Cardiovascular Health Program Web site at http://health.state.tn.us/FactSheets/cardio.htm.*

To view county–level data, visit our interactive map site at http://www.cdc.gov/dhdsp/library/maps/statemaps.htm.

 
*Links to non–Federal organizations are provided solely as a service to our users. Links do not constitute an endorsement of any organization by CDC or the Federal Government, and none should be inferred. The CDC is not responsible for the content of the individual organization Web pages found at this link.
 

Page last reviewed: August 30, 2007
Page last modified: August 30, 2007
Content source: Division for Heart Disease and Stroke Prevention, National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion