Over the past 50 years, the world has made a major step forward in overcoming heart attacks. In the U.S., over 50 years, death rates from heart attacks fell by 90%. In Australia and European countries, they decreased by 50–80%.
These changes became possible due to several factors. Anti-smoking campaigns reduced the share of smokers from 40% to 14% in developed countries. Preventive programs taught people to monitor key health indicators, and regular checkups made it possible to identify heart problems at an early stage. Modern emergency response protocols and treatment methods helped save lives during critical minutes. In countries where government programs changed diets, such as Finland, people started eating less saturated fat and salt.
As a result, life expectancy in countries implementing these measures increased by 5–10 years. Managing heart health has become part of a culture of self-care: regularly monitoring health indicators, staying active, eating properly, and controlling stress. Now the key task is to scale these successes in countries with low and middle incomes so that even more people worldwide can live longer with a strong and healthy heart.
Source: Study Finds
