At least 6 in 10 adults in an older, more diverse U.S. population could be affected by cardiovascular disease within the next 30 years, according to two new science reports.
The projected rise in heart disease and stroke – along with several key risk factors, including high blood pressure and obesity – is likely to triple related costs to $1.8 trillion by 2050, according to two American Heart Association presidential advisories published Tuesday in the AHA journal Circulation. One report looks at the projected increase in cardiovascular disease rates in the decades ahead, while the other projects their total related costs.
"The landscape of cardiovascular disease in the U.S. is seeing the arrival of a near-perfect storm," Dr.
Dhruv S. Kazi, vice chair of the advisory writing group, said in a news release . Kazi is head of health economics and associate director of the Richard A.
and Susan F. Smith Center for Outcomes Research in Cardiology and director of the cardiac critical care unit at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston. "The last decade has seen a surge of cardiovascular risk factors such as uncontrolled high blood pressure, diabetes and obesity, each of which raises the risks of developing heart disease and stroke," he said.
"It is not surprising that an enormous increase in cardiovascular risk factors and diseases will produce a substantial economic burden." Cardiovascular disease refers to conditions such as coronary heart disease, including heart attac.