Progress against heart disease stalls: 'We are at a point of real stagnation'

Kim Painter, USA TODAY

“We are at a point of real stagnation,” says David Goff, director of cardiovascular sciences at the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute.

The overall burden of cardiovascular disease – the broad category that includes heart attacks, strokes, heart failure and other heart and blood vessel conditions – “is actually getting worse in some states,” says Gregory Roth, an assistant professor at the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington.

The prime suspects for this shift: America’s epidemics of obesity and diabetes.

The most likely cures: known life-savers such as blood pressure and cholesterol control, healthier diets, more physical activity, less smoking and greater access to health care.