from Annals of Internal Medicine
Our best efforts to cut heart disease deaths are not good enough. That is the message from the American College of Physicians. After decades of progress in reducing heart disease deaths, it remains a leading cause of death and preventable risk factors continue to account for half of those deaths. The top five preventable risk factors for heart disease are high cholesterol, diabetes, high blood pressure, obesity and smoking. Researchers admit, in Annals of Internal Medicine, that completely eliminating modifiable risk factors is not realistic, but if all states reduced the risk factor levels to that of states that have already reduced them, another ten percent of heart disease deaths could be prevented.