On June 19, 2015, The New York Times spotlighted the remarkable 38% decline in the death rate from coronary heart disease between 2003 and 2013, and featured commentary by 1996 Beeson Scholar Harlan Krumholz, MD and 1998 Beeson Eric Peterson, MD, MPH.
Improvements in medical treatments, drugs, and procedures have all resulted in the steep decease in the death rate. Dr. Peterson comments, “Heart disease mortality is dropping like a stone. This is a reason why.”
The improvements in care have resulted in universal improvements at both small and large medical centers across the country. Research from Dr. Krumholz has also found that disparities in care for groups such as African Americans, Hispanics, and older adults have dramatically decreased.
Read the complete article here.
Harlan Krumholz, MD, is the Harold H. Hines, Jr. Professor of Medicine (Cardiology) and Professor in the Institute for Social and Policy Studies, of Investigative Medicine and of Public Health at Yale Medical School.
Eric Peterson, MD, MPH, is a professor of medicine in the Division of Cardiology at Duke University Medical Center.
For over 30 years, AFAR has supported 3000 investigators at more than 500 leading institutions nationwide through over $147 million in grant awards--all to advance research that will extend healthspan, the time we are in optimal health as we age. Learn more about how AFAR’s programs are working to expand healthspan here.
