ABSTRACT
Coronary heart disease (CHD) is a major cause of death and disability in the United States. Although the age-adjusted mortality rate of CHD is on the decline, on an annual basis CHD still kills about 500,000 Americans. It is estimated that nearly 70% of all Americans have some degree of atherosclerotic narrowing of their coronary arteries. Approximately 14 million Americans suffer from CHD and one-third of these individuals have limited activity as a result. In addition, each year about 1.5 million Americans will suffer a myocardial infarction, about 1 million will undergo cardiac catheterization, about 500,000 will die of CHD, about 400,000 will have coronary artery bypass grafts, and another 350,000 will have an angioplasty procedure performed.
