Keep it ticking: cardiac intervention programs reduce future heart attack risk.

• Author: Campbell, Carolyn
• Position: Executive Health

Joe Dalto was searching for a seat at the Deer Valley Amphitheatre when he suddenly collapsed. The 53-year-old Intermountain Healthcare quality consultant had no pulse or respiration. A bystander immediately started CPR while a volunteer ran to the first aid booth, returning with a defibrillator. When Dalto's pulse returned, an ambulance rushed him to Intermountain Medical Center where he received three stints for blocked arteries. "The most significant struggle for me was fear that I could die at any minute," Dalto recalls.

Dr. Frank Yanowitz, medical director at LDS Hospital Health & Fitness Institute, says there is a tremendous emotional impact after having a heart attack, especially for those who were previously unaware they were at risk. "It is often a person's first awareness that they are vulnerable and at risk to die suddenly."

Cardiovascular disease takes the lives of nearly 830,000 Americans annually, accounting for one of every three deaths, says Jennifer Merback, communications director for the Utah Division of the American Heart Association. In the urban United States, post-heart attack health management has improved due to rapid intervention; today, approximately 70 percent of heart attack sufferers survive the incident. "The focus after a heart attack is to avoid another one," Yanowitz explains. "We identify factors in a person's life, which, if changed, would decrease the likelihood that he or she will experience further complications." He adds that changing those factors could also help protect someone who has never had a heart attack.

Yanowitz explains that heart disease is a progressive illness that begins years before the moment when an artery suddenly closes off, causing damage to the heart muscle from lack of blood flow. Because there are multiple causes, doctors strive to identify each patient's individual risk factors. There are genetic factors for individuals from families with a history of early heart attacks-below age 55 for men and 65 for women. Smoking, unhealthy diet, sedentary lifestyle and being overweight and/ or obese, also increase heart attack risk, as well as high blood pressure and adult onset diabetes.

Once a heart attack patient is discharged from the hospital, he or she follows a cardiac intervention program that includes medications to reduce cholesterol and control blood pressure. "Intervention is designed to restore both physical function and confidence along with promoting physical activity,"...