Oklahoma is in the region where the most preventable deaths from heart disease and stroke occur, according to a report by the Centers for Disease Control.
Nationally, more than 200,000 deaths could have been prevented in 2010, according to the report.
The rate of preventable deaths in Oklahoma in 2010 was 89.8 per 100,000 population. That was a decrease from 104.9 in 2001. Most states showed improvement better than Oklahoma's 2.6 percent.
Preventable deaths were defined as those with an underlying cause of heart disease, stroke or hypertensive disease in people 75 and younger.
More than half of the avoidable deaths were in people younger than 65, but the highest rate was in people aged 65 to 74.
Bruce Dart, director of the Tulsa Health Department, said members of the community need to learn healthier choices and the area's infrastructure and environment must support making those choices easy ones, he said.
These diseases can be prevented or at least delayed if people know how to change their behavior, he said.
"Everybody knows certain things, like that high cholesterol levels are bad," he said. "But they don't know why they're bad, they don't know how they get bad and they don't know how to make them better."
For positive change to occur, people also need to educate themselves and do proper screenings to learn their health status, he said.
"The bottom line is once people know their health risk numbers they do make positive change," he said. "And if everybody in Tulsa knew their risk numbers for cholesterol and diabetes, I think we would start to see a movement in that direction."
Dr. Christopher Thurman, chairman of the department of family medicine at the Oklahoma State University Center for Health Sciences, said the report shows that rural areas of Oklahoma have the worst rates of preventable deaths and the least improvement over time.
"That kind of goes along with our knowledge of health care disparities in rural Oklahoma and the fact that we really need more physicians," he said.
People who have trouble accessing health care are less likely to take preventive measures against heart disease and stroke risks and are less likely to have them diagnosed early.
To improve the numbers, medical schools are encouraging students to take residencies in rural areas and health care professionals are participating in health information exchanges that allow them to share data and see where patients have been.
The age range just below Medicare eligibility has high rates of uninsured, and measures such as what is being attempted with the Affordable Care Act could have an effect on the preventable death rates.
"If we had something like this, we might see different numbers," he said.
Shannon Muchmore 918-581-8378
shannon.muchmore@tulsaworld.com
Health & Fitness
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