About one in four deaths in the United States is caused by heart disease, making it a major public health issue. Heart disease rates vary a lot across the country, according to statistics from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
These rates are affected by age, race, ethnicity, socioeconomic status, and environmental conditions. The CDC has made an interactive atlas about heart disease and stroke to give people a better understanding of this health problem.
Users can look at maps at the county level and see information about the rates of heart disease and stroke for different races and ethnic groups. With this information, we can find the Texas city with the highest rate of heart disease in the state.
The Highest Heart Disease Rate in Texas
The CDC Atlas says that Cameron County, which is in the very southern part of Texas and borders Mexico, has the highest rate of heart disease in the state. There are about 423,000 people living in this county, and Brownsville is its biggest city.
According to the CDC Atlas, 233.9 out of every 100,000 people in Cameron County will die from heart disease between 2017 and 2019. During the same time period, this rate was much higher than the state average of 165.5 per 100,000 people and the national average of 165.0 per 100,000 people.
Also, more people die from heart disease in Cameron County than in any other county in Texas or nearby states like New Mexico, Oklahoma, Arkansas, and Louisiana.
The Factors Behind the High Heart Disease Rate
The high risk of heart disease in Cameron County and Brownsville is caused by a number of things, such as
1. Demographics: Cameron County’s people are mostly Hispanic; they make up about 89% of the county’s population. The CDC says that Hispanics are more likely than non-Hispanic whites to have heart disease risk factors like being overweight, having diabetes, or having high blood pressure.
2. Socioeconomic Status: The typical household income in Cameron County is $38,706, and 29.6% of people there live in poverty. This makes it one of the poorest counties in Texas. The CDC says that people with low incomes often have trouble getting medical care, healthy food, chances to be active, and tools that can help them avoid or deal with heart disease.
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3. Environmental Conditions: People who live in Cameron County have to deal with great heat because they live in an area that has high temperatures and high humidity all year. According to the CDC, this raises the chance of heat-related illnesses and deaths, especially for people who already have heart disease or other long-term conditions.
The Ways to Reduce the Heart Disease Rate
The high rate of heart disease in Cameron County and Brownsville needs to be fixed right away as a matter of public health. People, communities, and healthcare workers can all work together to lower the rate of heart disease and improve the quality of life for residents. Here are some methods that work:
1. Promoting Healthy Behaviors: People can lower their chance of heart disease by starting healthy habits like not smoking, eating a balanced diet, being physically active regularly, dealing with stress, and taking their medications as directed.
2. Enhancing Healthcare Access: Communities can make it easier for low-income and uninsured people to get medical care by expanding Medicaid coverage, supporting community health centers, offering more transportation choices, and starting outreach and education programs.
3. Implementing Evidence-Based Interventions: Heart disease can be prevented or treated with treatments that have been shown to work. These include controlling blood pressure and cholesterol, doing cardiac rehabilitation, and starting aspirin therapy.
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Conclusion
Heart disease is the main cause of death in the US, and it has different effects in different areas. According to the CDC Atlas, Cameron County and Brownsville have the highest rates of heart disease in Texas. This high rate is probably caused by a mix of social, socioeconomic, and environmental factors that make people in the area more likely to get heart disease.
Still, people, communities, and healthcare workers can all do a lot to lower the number of people who get heart disease and improve the health of the people who live there. We can change the future for the better in Cameron County and Brownsville by being responsible.