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OF ALL OTHER CAUSES OF DEATH!
More people die because they haven't
given that " little care" to their heart
than die from all other causes- cancer,
violent deaths (which includes all
forms of accidents including automo–
bile, suicide and murder), congenital
and infancy diseases, infectious and para–
sitie diseases or anything else which
brings death.
lt's hard to believe when you thiok
of all the admooitions wc receíve about
driving safely and the frighteni ng toll
taken on our highways every holiday.
lt's hard to believe when you think of
all we have heard about the deadly
killer cancer. It's hard to believe when
you read the tragic toll exacted by tbe
war in Vietnam. Statistically, we rnay be
aware of the enormity of the heart prob–
lem. But statistics are pretty impersonal
until they strike our home, family and
friends. They're hard to believe - uotil
it's too late. Then they are a stark, cold,
very personal
reaJity.
The ANNUAL DEATHS frorn cardio–
vascular disease surpasses all the battle
deaths· suffered by United States armed
forces since the nation's inception
in 1776. Awesome, isn't it? Focus
your attention for a moment on the
fact that we are speaking of ANNUAL
DEATHS. More than ONE MILLION
AMERICAN$ died in 1968 (the last
year for which statistics are avail–
able) as a result of cardiovascular
disease. That's over FIFTY-THREE PER–
CENT of aU the deaths in the United
States. More than one million fathers,
mothers, and even children in sorne
cases, desperately needed to have a
heart. And the projected estimates for
the year just past are even slightly
worse. The American Heart Association
expects the death toll to rise to 54.5%
for the year 1969 - 1,059,460 more
who if they couJd speak would say,
"Please, take a little care."
Not the Whole Picture
An additional TWENTY-FIVE M!LLION
AMERICans continue to live with the
specter of sorne forro of heart disease as
a constant companion and threat to
their existence. This does not include
anyone in the "suspect" heart problem
category
(Heart Pacts,
published by the
T he
PLAIN TRUTH
American Heart Association). In other
words, nearly thirteen percent of the
total population of tbe United States is
known to be suffering wi th a cardio–
vascular problern. Sorne of you along
with sorne of your friends are included.
To you the heart statist ics ought to be
real.
Unfortunately, the United States does
not stand alone in the heart battle. Most
of the industrialized and therefore more
prosperous nations of the world are
waging the same battle. Just over forty
years ago, Great Britain's heart toll was
one out of every eight deaths. Today
one out of every three deaths in Britain
results f rom heart fai lure.
Two h11ndred
tho11sand Britons
die annually as a
result
(Daily Exp·11ess,
London, May 19,
1965).
New Zealand has basically the same
rate - one of every three - with the
problern contioui ng to grow. Tragically,
the growth appears to be among the
younger generation. Medica! authorities
in New Zealand are expressing grave
concern over an alarming increase in the
incidence of heart disease among their
young people.
Australia is in even worse condition.
A recent report shows that FlFTY-SJX
PERCENT of all deaths in Australia stem
frorn heart disease
(The Sun,
Sydney,
March 7, 1969). You would think such
figures would be enough to convince us
of the need to take care of our hearts.
But with the increase in ease and lux–
ury, there comes the corresponding
increase in cardiovascular illness and a
seeming apathy toward doing anything
about
it.
Economic Costs
The tragic toll of the heart p roblem
is not defined solely in terms of human
suffering and lives. The immediate dol–
lar costs to country and industry must
be eguated to the national economy and
the way it is affected. Millions of dol–
lars in man-hours, vocational training
and experience are irrevocably lost m
the struggle. Multiple thousands of
workmen and executives alike, not to
mention housewives and others, have
their productivity both on the job and
in the family cut short or seriously
impaired due to this greatest of all
killers.
March, 1970
Take the two nations with the most
serious problem as exarnples. Austra–
lia with its fifty-six percent toll estirnates
the dollar loss to the economy at SEV.EN
HUNDRED MILLlON DOLLARS annually.
Three hundred fifty million dollars are
attributed to loss of output alone. Medi–
ca! treatrnent, pensions and social ser–
vices account for two hundred million
dollars, while permanent disability is
estimated at one hundred twenty-.five
million dollars.
In the United States, with twenty-five
million people affected, the costs are
astronomical. The President's Commis–
sion on Heart Disease, Cancer and
Stroke made a study of the problern and
carne up with sorne arnazing figures.
Direct expenditures for hospital and
nursing home care, physicians' services,
drugs and other medical services for
persons with heart disease amounted to
a resounding TWO ANO SIX·TENTHS
BlL–
LION DOLLARS
1
More than the total
national economy of sorne small nations.
A Disease of Prosperity
It is basically the sarne picture in each
of the other so-called "have nations."
With few exceptions coronaries increase
in direct proportion with the indus–
trialization and wealth of the country.
The more ease and comfort, the more
luxury and labor-saving devices we
have, the more coronaries we suffer.
Millions of citizens of the United
States labor under the false assumption
that theirs is the healthiest nation in the
world. The facts prove otherwise. In
spite of the nearly
sixty billion dollars
spent in a year's time in pursuit of the
elusive guality known as health,
U.
S.
meo rank tweoty-si.xth in li fe expectancy.
American women, ranking twelfth,
suffer the same basic problems only to
a lesser degree.
If
you are an American male between
30 and 60 years of age, the odds are
one in ten you'JI suffer sorne form of
heart attack within another ten years.
The chances then are one in three
you
will die from
it.
"If
you are overweight, with high
blood pressure and too much cholesterol
in your blood, your chances of having a
heart attack leap to one in two. AND
WHEN YOU ADD HEAVY SMOKING,
YOU'VE JUST BLOWN YOUR CHANCES