Statistics for Heart Disease in the United States are shocking.

The number one killer in the United States is heart disease. Statistics on heart disease show that it is not only the most deadly disease but it kills more people than the next 3 diseases combined, including the dreaded cancer.

Statistics on heart disease are not always accurately or objectively reported. A case in point is a study reported by the British Medical Journal that got little medical press even though it was a study done by Stanford University and the University of California at San Francisco.

High blood pressure is considered a risk factor in heart disease.  In a report of 124 blood pressure studies done, only 55% showed favorable results of the blood pressure drug; yet 92% of the summary and concluding remarks for the study found the specific drug favorable. Drug companies pay for most of the research and not surprisingly the results can get skewed by quoting some statistics and leaving out others.

The Health Alert reported in their newsletter of Oct. 2008 (edited by Dr. Bruce West, M.D.)  that a new generation of cardiologists are saying: “average M.D.’s, including cardiologists, are 10 to 20 years behind the times in the greatest, most effective, and safest advances in heart disease care!”

The reason that doctors don’t accept the new information on heart disease statistics  is because of:
1. Indoctrination from old, outdated information that is ingrained into doctor’s minds.
2. Unlearning and change are typical resistant with human nature.
3. The money in “standard treatment” is huge.
(It is estimated that 100 billion dollars is done in elective surgeries that are useless or of questionable benefit in heart disease.)
4. There is enormous influence by drug companies, especially for the cholesterol lowering (statin) drugs.  It is a $20 billion revenue source for drug companies.  It is the largest selling drug category in the world in spite of its questionable benefit.

Here are some examples cited by Dr. Bruce West, M.D., on statistics of heart disease.  He treats many heart patients:
1. 100 million in angioplasties…typically at a cost of $39,200 per case
2. 500,000 bypass surgeries at an average cost of $83,900

Angioplasties have proven themselves as only a brief help, if at all.  Statistics on heart disease show no difference in survival rate with bypass surgery versus no treatment at all. Most bypasses are expected to “be good” for no more than 10 to 12 years. The real issue is treating the cause of heart disease, not the symptoms after the fact.

Cardiologist, Steven Sinatra cites a study in the New England Journal of Medicine.  It found that most of the 500,000,cardiac surgeries unnecessarily risked the life of the patient.  The older you get the higher is  your risk of mortality.  A Duke University study of 357,857 patients reported that 14.2% of the patients age 75 to 79 years died within a year.  The bottom line conclusion was that unless an emergency (imminent heart attack), heart surgery for clogged arteries in this group does not save lives.

Ben Franklin said it best: “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure”…Denis Van Loan D.D.S.