© American Heart Association
In 1964, President Lyndon B. Johnson proclaimed the first ever American Heart Month: “It is essential to the health and well-being of our nation that our citizens be made aware of the medical, social, and economic aspects of the problem of cardiovascular diseases, and the measures being taken to combat them.” Cardiovascular diseases has to be treated every day by doing exercise, there´s plenty of exercises you can do to better your health, one of the best ones I know is boxing but there is Some things you’ll need for boxing before you even start practicing.
The tradition has continued every February since then, and the need to raise awareness about cardiovascular health remains urgent: heart disease is the number one killer of both men and women in the United States. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, approximately 610,000 Americans die of heart disease each year.
Women may be particularly at risk, both because the warning signs of heart disease can be different for women than for men and because of common misconceptions about heart disease risk, such as the idea that heart disease only affects men or older adults. Cardiovascular disease (CVD) kills one in three American women—but the American Heart Association (AHA) says 80% of those deaths could be prevented with education and action. The AHA’s Go Red for Women campaign offers many resources to help women learn about risk factors, symptoms, and prevention of heart disease, heart attacks, and stroke.
- For a more-in depth look at the topic, check out our March 2013 CE, “Update on Cardiovascular Disease Prevention in Women,” which provides a comprehensive overview of the AHA’s guidelines for preventing CVD in women.
- Also, see our May 2015 CE “Atrial Fibrillation: Updated Management Guidelines and Nursing Implications” to review recently updated guidelines for managing atrial fibrillation, the most common chronic cardiac arrhythmia.
—Diane Szulecki, associate editor
Response to a Global Issue
Thousands of people in the United States and other parts of the world die each year as a result of myocardial infarction. This is the topic of the blog selected for review in this assignment. According to the author of this work, efforts to address this public health issue were first made by U.S. President, Lyndon B. Johnson (Szulecki, 2016). Specifically, Johnson initiated the first American Heart Month in 1964 (Szulecki, 2016). Since this time, the month has been celebrated every year to raise public awareness about the impact of cardiovascular disease on health (Szulecki, 2016).
This information revealed by Szulecki (2016) about this monthly event is important. This is because, as noted by the American Heart Association, 80 percent of cardiovascular deaths could be prevented (Szulecki, 2016). Raising public awareness regarding the impact that cardiovascular disease has on medical, social as well as economic aspects of life is important (Szulecki, 2016). In addition, during the month, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) advises the public on the most appropriate measures to take in combating the various forms of cardiovascular disease. Despite these efforts, data indicates that the number of people who die of heart-related illness every year in the nation continues to increase (Szulecki, 2016).
Despite the measures put in place by the United States government to control the increasing problem of cardiovascular diseases in the nation, approximately 610,000 individuals die each year from this disease (Szulecki, 2016). Currnetly, Szulecki (2016) reports that more women than men are becoming prone to heart attacks and other cardiovascular illnesses across the US. This can be attributed to the erroneous misconceptions about the heart disease. Specifically, most people that the heart disease only affects the men and elderly. Nevertheless, this negative trend pertaining the disease can be resolved if both the government and public adopts the right education and preventive measures against the disease.
References
Szulecki, D. (2016, February 11). American heart month: Education, awareness crucial to fight heart disease. Retrieved from https://ajnoffthecharts.com/american-heart-month-education-awareness-crucial-to-fight-heart-disease/#more-20268