104 STAT. 5214 PROCLAMATION 6095—FEB. 13, 1990 of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and fourteenth. GEORGE BUSH Proclamation 6095 of February 13, 1990 American Heart Month, 1990 By the President of the United States of America A Proclamation Approximately every 32 seconds, someone in the United States dies of some form of heart and blood vessel disease. Heart attack, stroke, and other cardiovascular disease kills nearly one million Americans every year. In fact, cardiovascular diseases cause almost as many deaths annually as cancer, accidents, pneumonia, influenza, and all other causes of death combined. Nearly 67 million Americans currently suffer from one or more forms of cardiovascular disease, including high blood pressure, coronary heart disease, rheumatic heart disease, and stroke. While many people mistakenly assume that heart disease occurs primarily in old age, studies show that 5 percent of all heart attacks occur in people under age 40, and more than 45 percent occur in people before age 65. Women as well as men are at risk. Heart attack is the number one killer of American women, surpassing even breast cancer and lung cancer. Approximately 244,000 of the more than 512,000 people who die each year of heart attack—nearly half—are women. In all, heart attack and other forms of heart and blood vessel disease claim the lives of nearly half a million women each year. Cardiovascular diseases exact an incalculable toll in human pain and suffering. They also inflict a heavy cost on our Nation in terms of health care expenses and lost productivity. The annual costs of cardiovascular-related physician and nursing services, hospital and nursing home services, medications, and lost work due to disability tptal in the billions of dollars. Fortunately, the outlook is not all gloomy. The latest reports show that age-adjusted death rates for cardiovascular diseases declined slightly more than 24 percent between 1977 and 1988. Advances in both the treatment and the prevention of heart and blood vessel diseases account for much of this progress. Since 1948, the Federal Government, through the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, and the American Heart Association, a private notfor-profit organization, have spent millions of dollars on educational programs and research into cardiovascular diseases. The American Heart Association estimates that it has invested more than $823 million on research since it became a national voluntary health organization in the late 1940s. That great investment has been made possible by the generosity of the American public and the dedicated efforts of the Association's 2.7 million volunteers.
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