Baby Boomers Face More Heart Attacks Than Past Generations

Baby Boomers Face More Heart Attacks Than Past Generations because Baby Boomers are not in good shape. When compared with their counterparts 10 or 20 years ago, researchers warn…Baby Boomer are in dire straights.

According to a new study, that was brought before the American Heart Association conference in Palm Harbor, Florida, more aging Baby Boomers are being hospitalized for heart attacks now than people their age were a generation ago. Cardiac care is concerned about the increase in cases and are concerned that this could place a big burden on cardiac care wards nationwide.
The upside is that there have been mass improvements in medical care that just may allow more people from this generation to recover and leave the hospital after a heart attack.

“The first Baby Boomers will begin turning 65 in a year-and-a-half, making the aging of this group an important public health issue,” said Hylan Shoob, lead author of a study that was to be presented Thursday, March 12Th, 2009, at an American Heart Association Conference in Palm Harbor, Florida.

Hylan Shoob added that the “early identification and treatment of risk factors for acute myocardial infarction (in layman’s terms a heart attack), including high blood pressure, cholesterol, obesity and diabetes, may reduce future health -care demands by this population.”

The 80,000,000 Baby Boomers born between 1946 and 1964 now constitute one third of the U.S. population, raising the specter of more disease and more costs for the health care system

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Baby boomers were born into relative affluence and peace after World War II, “this baby boomer population represents a huge volume of the population,” said Dr. Carl J. Lavie, medical director of cardiac rehabilitation at the Ochsner Heart and Vascular Institute in New Orleans. “In addition, unlike their parents, this population has largely enjoyed the ‘good life,’ with a lot of surpluses that have allowed them to avoid high amounts of physical work in their workplaces and large quantities of good-tasting, high-caloric, high-fat, high-processed, sugary foods.”

The combination, Lavie said, has led to more “diabesity” or obesity plus diabetes, both strong risk factors for heart disease. “There is no question that the medical costs that will be required to treat these man-made diseases will place a major burden on our already troubled health care systems.”

What did the Study Consist Of?

In the study, researchers compared hospitalization rates for heart attacks among people who were 45 to 64 years of age for the year 1980, 1990 and in 2000.

What Did They Find?

* The number of 45 to 64 year old Baby Boomers, that where hospitalized for heart attacks ranked the highest in 2000, but the prevalence (in essence, the percentage of that population) was highest in 1990, followed by 2000 and 1980.
* More men than women baby Boomers, were hospitalized for the condition in 1980, but the situation had flipped by 2000, with more women than men Baby Boomers hospitalized.
* More cardiac catheterization and cardiac revascularization procedures, such as angioplasty, were performed as the years progressed, with 2000 seeing the most such operations.
* More Baby Boomers were discharged to their homes in 1980 than in 1990 or 2000. More Baby Boomers were discharged to facilities such as nursing homes in 1990 and 1980.
* Baby Boomers today die less often while in the hospital than people did 10 or 20 years ago.

“I can confidently predict that the risk for heart disease and related conditions, is increasing,” Lavie said. “There was a study in the past year that showed that younger people are now having heart attacks and this is directly related with premature obesity.”

SOURCES: Hylan Shoob, Ph.D., epidemiologist, division for heart disease and stroke prevention,U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta; Carl J. Lavie, M.D., medical director, Cardiac Rehabilitation, and prevention director, Stress Testing Laboratory, Ochsner Heart and Vascular Institute, New Orleans; presentation, March 12, 2009, American Heart Association’s Cardiovascular Disease Epidemiology and Prevention annual conference, Palm Harbor, Florida
Hylan Shoob, Ph.D., epidemiologist, division for heart disease and stroke prevention,U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta; Carl J. Lavie, M.D., medical director, Cardiac Rehabilitation, and prevention director, Stress Testing Laboratory, Ochsner Heart and Vascular Institute, New Orleans; presentation, March 12, 2009, American Heart Association’s Cardiovascular Disease Epidemiology and Prevention annual conference, Palm Harbor, Florida.

For more information on “Baby Boomers Face More Heart Attacks Than Past Generations“, go to The American Heart Association.