500,000 North Carolinians have heart disease

by Peg O'Connell, Healthcare lobbyist and NC SPIN panelist, February 22, 2018.

According to the Justus Warren Heart Disease and Stroke Prevention Task Force, about 565,000 North Carolinians (7.2% of NC adults) have had a heart attack, angina or coronary heart disease in their lifetime. Heart disease led to 103,909 hospital admissions (9% of all admissions) and $5.2 billion in hospital charges in North Carolina in 2016. That equates to one heart disease hospitalization almost every five minutes and over $14.2 million in hospital charges for heart disease each day in the state.

The cost of this disease takes a huge bite out of our state’s budget and the productivity of our citizens. Because we suffer from so much cardiovascular disease, and other chronic diseases, it is actually more expensive to do business in our state than in state’s that have a healthier population. If we want our state to be economically healthy, we must make sure that it is also physically healthy.

There are things that we can do to reduce this burden and improve the financial and physical health of our state.

First, each person must take charge of their own health. It is important to know your blood pressure and make sure that it is under control, be more physically active, lose weight, control blood sugar, and stop using tobacco. Granted, these things are easier said than done, but they are so important to good health and good quality of life. Fortunately, the American Heart Association has resources for those who are ready to make a change https://healthyforgood.heart.org/

Secondly, we can improve our laws and policies so that we can create healthier communities. We can make more places smoke and e-cigarette free and make sure that our young people are educated and informed about the dangers of these products, we can make sure that our kids get regular physical education in schools and we can work to make sure that people living all across our state have access to affordable health insurance and high quality medical care.

The above suggestions are not the only things that we can do to improve our heart health, but they are a place to start. If you are interested in learning more, the Justus Warren Task Force has an impressive website that has a wealth of information on prevention, treatment and the burden of cardiovascular disease in North Carolina www.startwithyourheart.com.