Heart disease, stroke serious business in Fayette

Heart

disease, stroke serious business in Fayette

Diseases of the

heart, arteries and blood vessels are the number-one

killer in Fayette County, in Georgia and in the United

States. Last year 174 people in Fayette County died from

heart disease and stroke. Cardiovascular disease includes

heart attacks, congestive heart failure, stroke,

congenital heart defects and rheumatic heart disease.

Someone dies from cardiovascular disease every 33

seconds.

According to the Center for

Disease Control, last year more than 23,000 died from

diseases of the heart, arteries and blood vessels in

Georgia. That totals more than all the deaths from the

next five leading causes of death combined. After heart

disease and stroke, the top killers are cancer, injury,

respiratory disease, AIDS and then diabetes, in that

order. The number of heart and stroke deaths was close to

double the number of deaths from cancer.

Stroke is the leading cause

of serious, long-term disability. In January of this

year, the American Heart Association renamed its Stroke

Division the "American Stroke Association"

(ASA). The ASA division is devoted exclusively to stroke.

It is not a separate organization, but it is a division

of the AHA. In 1998 the AHA spent $57 million for stroke

initiatives. Currently research is being funded on acute

treatments for stroke, genetic factors of stroke and how

stroke rehabilitation affects the brain's functions and

other areas.

The American Heart

Association is the largest non-profit organization

fighting cardiovascular disease in the nation and the

largest non-governmental investor in heart research. The

AHA also spends a larger percentage of its budget on

research than any other major health organization,

currently 32.4 percent of its budget. Close to 25 percent

of the budget is used for public health education,

approximately 14 percent for community service and 5.5

percent for professional education. Just under fifteen

percent goes for fund raising and 9 percent for

management costs.

For more information, call

Mary O'Conner at 770-730-8440 or go to https://www.americanheart.org/southeast/ .

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