The North Carolina Plan To Prevent Heart Disease and Stroke 2005 – 2010
Risk factors are the underlying causes of heart disease and stroke events. Risk factors can promote the onset of atherosclerosis in healthy individuals and accelerate the progression of disease in those already diagnosed with CVD. Maintaining good health can prevent this onset and/or progression.
Shifting the risk factor profile of the population has already had a major effect. Over half of the decline in CVD deaths during the past 20 years is attributed to declining cholesterol levels and prevalence rates of smoking and high blood pressure.
While therapeutic advances also contribute to declining CVD death rates, changing the risk factor profile of North Carolina will have the greatest impact in reducing premature CVD. We need to change the lifestyle factors that contribute to the development and progression of disease.
A large proportion of North Carolinians have risk factors for CVD*. Among adults:
- 22.1% are current cigarette smokers
- 57.9% do not get the recommended amount of physical activity
- 77.5% eat fewer than 5 servings of fruits and vegetables daily
- 62.9% are overweight or obese (BMI equal to or greater than 25)
- 30.2% report having high blood pressure
- 36.3% report having high cholesterol
- 9.1% report having been diagnosed with diabetes
* Reference: BRFSS 2004 and 2006
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