 |
|
|
|
|
Aging Baby Boomers May Swamp Cardiac Care
'Diabesity' renders them more prone to heart attacks than their predecessors, researchers say
By Amanda Gardner
HealthDay Reporter
|
| | | | Related Healthscout Videos | |
|
THURSDAY, March 12 (HealthDay News) -- Baby boomers are not in good shape, even when compared with their counterparts 10 or 20 years ago, researchers warn.
According to a new study, more aging boomers are being hospitalized for heart attacks now than people their age were a generation ago, and the increase in cases could place a big burden on cardiac care wards nationwide.
Text Continues Below
But on the upside, improvements in medical care may allow more people from this generation to recover and leave the hospital after a heart attack, the researchers say.
"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 at an American Heart Association conference in Palm Harbor, Fla.
She added that the "early identification and treatment of risk factors for acute myocardial infarction [heart attack], including high blood pressure, cholesterol, obesity and diabetes, may reduce future health-care demands by this population."
Shoob was an epidemiologist in the division for heart disease and stroke prevention at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control & Prevention (CDC) when the study was conducted and is now scientific review officer in the CDC's Office of the Chief Science Officer, Office of Public Health Research.
The 80 million baby boomers born between 1946 and 1964 now constitute a third of the U.S. population, raising the specter of more disease and more costs for the health-care system.
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."
Page: 1 | 2 | Next >>
|
Copyright © 2009 ScoutNews, LLC. All rights reserved.
Last updated 3/13/2009
|
|
SOURCES: Hylan Shoob, Ph.D., scientific review officer, Office of the Chief Science Officer, Office of Public Health Research, 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, Fla.
|
.gif)
