Young Adults’ Heart-Death Rates a Worry

U.S. death rates from coronary disease have dropped in the last two decades, but may be increasing in women ages 35 to 44, a study found.

In women ages 35 to 44, the rate of death from coronary disease increased by an average of 1.3 percent annually from 1997 and 2002, a finding that was statistically significant, Dr. Earl S. Ford, a medical officer in the U.S. Public Health Service, said.

Young adults should take stock of their lifestyles, Ford said in a statement. If you’re smoking, you should quit. If you’re doing less than 30 minutes of physical activity per day, it’s time to find ways to be more active. If you need to lose weight, you should burn more calories than you take in.

Researchers at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta and Dr. Simon Capewell, of the University of Liverpool, analyzed U.S.coronary data from1980 to 2002.

The study, published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology, found that overall, the death rate from coronary disease fell by 52 percent in men and 49 percent in women from 1980 to 2002, but from 2000 to 2002 the average annual rate of death from coronary disease leveled in men ages 35 to 54 and in increased in women ages 35 to 54.