Heart Disease And Its Symptoms And Identify Groups Most At Risk

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention the prevalence of coronary heart disease among all Americans decreased from 6.7 percent in 2006 to 6.0 percent last year (2010). Men, Native Americans, Alaskans, Southerners and those who didn’t graduate high school education had appreciably higher rates of heart disease. The rate of heart disease in 2010 was 7.8 percent for men and 4.6 percent for women. The rate for Native Americans and Alaskans is appreciable higher at 11.6 percent. Blacks experience a 6.5 percent rate, Hispanics 5.8 percent and for whites, 3.9 percent. High school dropouts are twice as likely to contract heart disease as those that hold a college degree, 9.2 to 4.6 percent. West Virginia and Kentucky (8 percent) top the states with the highest rate of heart disease. Connecticut, 4.4 percent and Hawaii 3.7 percent experience the lowest rate. (CNN, 2011) Symptoms Chronic shortness of breath and tightness in the chest are the symptoms of severely clogged arteries. Because heart disease is a. illness that progresses gradually, the onset may not be perceptible until the person has a heart attack. When this occurs, severe shortness of breath and pain in areas of the upper body such as either or both arms, stomach, neck or back accompanied by a sharp pressure on the chest. Other symptoms could comprise becoming nauseous, feelings of light-headedness and/or perspiring profusely for no other