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• Heart Attack Deaths Drop in U.S. as Smoking, Diet, Drugs Help  

Heart attacks and stroke deaths dropped by a third in 2006 from 1999 as more people stopped smoking, ate better and used medications such as Bristol-Myers Squibb Co.’s Plavix to keep blood flowing freely within arteries.

Heart disease accounted for 1 in 3 U.S. deaths in 2006, the latest year for which data is available, the Dallas-based American Heart Association said in a statement today. Drugs including cholesterol-lowering statins such as Pfizer Inc.’s Lipitor and the Plavix blood-thinner joined with better heart- attack treatment to lower the mortality rate, the health advocacy group said.

The heart association, which includes doctors and consumers in its membership, has lobbied against smoking for years. In 1998, the group set a national goal of reducing heart and stroke deaths 25 percent by 2010. The U.S. hit that mark in 2007, three years early. The change in death rates translates to about 190,000 lives saved in 2006.

“Medical therapy across the board has gotten better,” said Steven Nissen, head of cardiology at the Cleveland Clinic in Ohio. “But at least half of this is lifestyle. Remember that there have been new food labeling laws, laws to restrict trans fats, and smoking has been steadily declining for some time.”

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[A]t least half of this is lifestyle. Remember that there have been new food labeling laws, laws to restrict trans fats, and smoking has been steadily declining for some time.
Steven Nissen, head of cardiology at the Cleveland Clinic, on news that heart attacks and stroke deaths dropped by a third between 1999 and 2006.