Heart disease is on the rise, here are preventative measures you can take

CHARLESTON, S.C. (WCSC) – February is American Heart Month, and recently, there has been a national increase in heart disease diagnoses and deaths.

The American Heart Association reports that heart disease has been the leading cause of death in the United States for over 100 years and that nearly half of all people in the U.S. have some sort of heart disease. The American Heart Association also released a recent report that found that 51% of people in the U.S. were not aware that heart disease is the leading cause of death, even though it impacts so many.

Cardiothoracic and Vascular Surgeon Doctor James Benner at Trident Medical Center said that in the last five years, they have seen an increase in heart disease diagnoses and deaths in the Lowcountry. Benner operates on over 500 hearts a year.

“Heart disease is definitely the number one killer. It’s what we spend as physicians, taking and spending most time and energy taking care of and we’ve definitely seen an increase in it,” he said. “COVID has definitely had an impact on this. I think people’s sedentary life has definitely also had a play in this. You know, people definitely aren’t as active or as out there as they used to be four or five years ago. So, we’re seeing that.”

Benner said that there is no specific age or demographic for heart disease. He said he operates on people all across the board from ages 30 to 90. He said that some causes of heart disease are out of anyone’s control such as genetics, hypertension and diabetes.

With that being said, Benner said there are preventative measures you can take that can make a big difference. He suggests cutting out smoking, eating better, and most of all, exercising.

“I think the biggest thing is exercise,” he said. “You cannot necessarily stop heart disease, but you can affect how it impacts you. I think exercise is probably the one thing that I see that patients that are active, coming in, or diagnosed with heart disease at that point, do far better. They tolerate the surgery better, they’re out of the hospital quicker and they recover quicker. Patients that are sedentary that don’t really do anything and that take care of themselves poorly. They struggle with the surgery; it takes that much longer to get through and get out of the hospital and they just don’t see the benefit of it as quickly. So definitely exercises from my standpoint is probably one of the biggest things.”

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report that weight and excessive alcohol use can also increase the risk of heart disease.

Benner just encourages everyone to exercise and stay healthy as he said those patients recover the best when surgery is necessary. He said it means so much to him when he can treat patients with heart disease.

“I’ve been in this community for 25, 30 years. These patients that we take care of, they’re family friends. We know them,” he said. “We take this very personally. I take care of patients like I would take care of my family because there’s somebody that I know that knows this person that I’m operating on. So, it’s a very personal thing.”

Benner also highly recommends monitoring your blood pressure and taking medications as necessary. He said staying ahead of it is important.

At the beginning of this year, the American Heart Association updated its statistics on blood pressure and found that 46.7% of people in the U.S. have high blood pressure, but 38% of those people are unaware that they have it. Both Benner and the American Heart Association emphasized the importance of awareness.

Friday is National Wear Red Day to increase awareness of heart disease.

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