by admin | Jan 21, 2014
The American Heart Association (AHA) has set a 2020 goal of improving the heart health of all Americans by 20% while reducing deaths from cardiovascular disease (CVD) and stroke by 20%. The AHA’s 2020 goals were designed strategically to help all individuals prevent declines in their current health behaviors and take a step toward better heart health by progressing toward ideal healthy lifestyle behaviors. “To achieve these goals, prevention is the top priority,” says Bonnie Spring, PhD. “Major strides have been made toward reducing risks for CVD and stroke, but the significant economic toll linked to these health challenges necessitates a new approach.” According to recent estimates, direct annual CVD-related costs are projected to triple, rising from $272 billion in 2010 to $818 billion in 2030. A Call to Action In 2013, the AHA released a science advisory, published in Circulation, emphasizing the importance of greater efforts to preserve cardiovascular health from childhood and to treat health risk behaviors into older ages. The call-to-action statement addresses three novel approaches to attain the AHA’s 2020 goals: 1. Preserving positive cardiovascular health by promoting healthy lifestyle behaviors. 2. Treating unhealthful behaviors in addition to risk biomarkers. 3. Combining individual-level and population-based health promotion strategies that steer the public toward the next level of improved cardiovascular health. “Clinicians need to treat unhealthy behaviors as aggressively as they treat high blood pressure (BP), cholesterol, and other CVD risk factors,” says Dr. Spring, who was lead author of the AHA statement. “It’s a paradigm shift from only treating biomarkers to also helping people change unhealthy behaviors.” Clinicians already treat physical risk factors, but people...
