Whereas heart disease affects adult men and women of every
age and race in the United States;
Whereas heart disease continues to be the leading cause of
death in the United States;
Whereas an estimated 81,000,000 adult Americans, more than
one in every 3, have one or more types of heart disease, including high blood
pressure, coronary heart disease, congestive heart failure, stroke, and
congenital heart defects;
Whereas extensive clinical and statistical studies have
identified major and contributing factors that increase the risk of heart
disease;
Whereas these studies have identified the following as
major risk factors that cannot be changed: Age (the risk of developing heart
disease gradually increases as people age; advanced age significantly increases
the risk), gender (men have greater risk of developing heart disease than
women), and heredity (children of parents with heart disease are more likely to
develop it themselves; African-Americans have more severe high blood pressure
than Caucasians and therefore are at higher risk; the risk is also higher among
Latina Americans, some Asian Americans, and Native Americans and other
indigenous populations);
Whereas these studies have identified the following as
major risk factors that Americans can modify, treat, or control by changing
their lifestyle or seeking appropriate medical treatment: High blood pressure,
high blood cholesterol, smoking tobacco products and exposure to tobacco smoke,
physical inactivity, obesity, and diabetes mellitus;
Whereas these studies have identified the following as
contributing risk factors that Americans can also take action to modify, treat
or control by changing their lifestyle or seeking appropriate medical
treatment: Individual response to stress, excessive consumption of alcoholic
beverages, use of certain illegal drugs, and hormone replacement
therapy;
Whereas more than 106,000,000 adult Americans have high
blood pressure;
Whereas more than 37,000,000 Americans have cholesterol
levels of 240 mg/dL or higher, the level at which it becomes a major risk
factor;
Whereas an estimated 46,000,000 Americans put themselves
at risk for heart disease every day by smoking cigarettes;
Whereas data released by the Centers for Disease Control
and Prevention shows that more than 65 percent of American adults do not get
enough physical activity, and more than 39 percent are not physically active at
all;
Whereas 66 percent of adult Americans are overweight or
obese;
Whereas 24 million adult Americans have diabetes and 65
percent of those so afflicted will die of some form of heart disease;
Whereas the American Heart Association projects that in
2010 1,200,000 Americans will have a first or recurrent heart attack and
452,000 of these people will die as a result;
Whereas in 2010 approximately 800,000 Americans will
suffer a new or recurrent stroke and 160,000 of these people will die as a
result;
Whereas advances in medical research have significantly
improved our capacity to fight heart disease by providing greater knowledge
about its causes, innovative diagnostic tools to detect the disease, and new
and improved treatments that help people survive and recover from this
disease;
Whereas Congress by Joint Resolution approved on December
30, 1963 (77 Stat. 843; 36 U.S.C. 101), has requested that the President issue
an annual proclamation designating February as American Heart
Month
;
Whereas the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute of
the National Institutes of Health, the American Heart Association, and many
other organizations celebrate National Wear Red Day
during
February by going red
to increase awareness about heart disease
as the leading killer of women; and
Whereas every year since 1964 the President has issued a
proclamation designating the month February as American Heart
Month
: Now, therefore, be it
That the House of Representatives
supports the goals and ideals of American Heart Month and National Wear Red
Day.