February is American Heart Month

Did you know about 2,200 Americans die each day from heart conditions and cardiovascular diseases? That’s about one every 40 seconds.

Cardiovascular diseases claim more lives than all forms of cancer combined.

American Heart Month is an excellent time to teach your family and friends that cardiovascular disease can often be prevented by making healthy choices and properly managing their existing health conditions.

Sharing this information is important because about 80% of cardiovascular disease can be prevented by taking control and following everyday healthy living steps that include:

• not smoking
• physical activity
• good nutrition
• maintaining healthy weight
• controlling blood pressure, cholesterol and blood glucose levels

This American Heart Month, love your heart and yourself.  Take steps to get your heart health in check and inspire someone in your life to do the same. 

From our Journals

Health Education & Behavior

• Determining Contextual Factors for a Heart Failure Self-Care Intervention: A Consensus Delphi Study (ACHIEVE) 
• Intersecting Structural Barriers and Hypertension Management Among Middle East and North Africa Refugees Resettled in the United States: A Qualitative Study
• Health for Hearts United Longitudinal Trial: Improving Perceived Stress and Allostatic Load Outcomes of Mid-Life and Older African American Women

Health Promotion Practice

• The Pre-Implementation Phase of a Project Seeking to Deliver a Community-Based CVD Prevention Intervention (SPICES-Sussex): A Qualitative Study Exploring Views and Experience Relating to Intervention Development
• Using the Practical Robust Implementation and Sustainability Model (PRISM) to Identify and Address Provider-Perceived Barriers to Optimal Statin Prescribing and Use in Community Health Centers