A journalist recounts his near-death experience and cites UNC’s heart attack research, recognizing that the number of younger heart attack victims is increasing.
Sameer Arora, MD, preventive medicine resident, and George “Rick” Stouffer, MD, the Ernest and Hazel Craige Distinguished Professor of Medicine and chief of the division of cardiology, are authors on a recent study cited in a New York Times opinion article.
The study shows that while rates of heart attacks have declined in recent decades, the numbers are up for younger people. Of more than 28,000 patients hospitalized for heart attacks from 1995 to 2014, 30 percent were between ages 35 and 54, and there was a five percentage point increase over that period in the number of younger heart attack victims.
The study’s senior author is Melissa Caughey, PhD, research instructor of medicine in the division of cardiology, who also served as Arora’s faculty mentor. In addition to Stouffer, Wayne Rosamond, PhD, and Anna Kucharska-Newton, MPH, PhD, both professors in the department of epidemiology in the Gillings School of Global Public Health, were also authors.
Find the article here. The research study can be accessed here.