ABSTRACT
Cardiovascular disease continues to be one of the major causes of death in the United States and other industrialized, socioeconomically advanced countries. People now live longer and are more susceptible to the occurrence of degenerative diseases. Hence, despite the current, extraordinarily rapid decline in mortality (Chapter 2), cardiovascular disease associated with advancing age remains the most important single cause of death worldwide, in old age and in both sexes. However, during the last 50 years, there has been a marked decrease in total death rates due to heart disease and stroke (56% and 70%, respectively). Indeed, it is estimated that 73% of the decline in total death rates over this time period is due to this reduction in cardiovascular disease mortality (Chapters 2 and 3). Several concomitant factors-better control of hypertension, changes in lifestyle (diet and physical exercise), scientific breakthroughs in understanding the disease, improvement in medical care, and decline in cigarette smoking may have contributed to the decrease in cardiovascular morbidity and mortality.
