Well-Being Index Documents Heart Attack Patterns in U.S. Men, older Americans, those with little formal education most likely to report heart attacks.
Byline: Frank Newport
Synopsis: Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index data underscore the extent to which heart attack incidence is related to age, gender, and education. Americans older than 40, men, and those without a high school degree are significantly more likely to report having had a heart attack than their demographic counterparts.
PRINCETON, NJ -- The incidence of heart attacks, virtually nil in Americans' 20s and early 30s, begins to rise steadily among those aged 40 and older. By age 67, more than 10% of the adult population reports having had a heart attack, and by age 81, more than 15%.
The heart attack data used in this analysis are based on 707,527 interviews conducted in 2008 and 2009 as part of the Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index. This large sample provides the unique ability to document reports of having had a heart attack on a year-by-year basis from age 18 to age 90.
Each night, random samples of 1,000 American adults, aged 18 and older, interviewed as part of the Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index are asked, "Have you ever been told by a physician or nurse that you have any of the following, or not?," with "heart attack" included as one of a list of seven conditions. (The other conditions are high blood pressure, high cholesterol, diabetes, depression, asthma, and cancer.)
The results may understate the real-world incidence of heart attacks. By definition, all reports are based on respondents still living at the time of the interview; those who died either as an immediate or longer term result of a heart attack before the time of the interview are not included in this study. This analysis is also dependent on respondent self-reports and not official diagnoses as reported by clinicians. Even with the rigorous question wording, which asks respondents if they have been given an official diagnosis of a heart attack by a physician or nurse, it is possible that some respondents may report having had a heart attack who in a strict clinical fashion did not have actually have one. It is also possible that some respondents may have had a heart attack but were unaware of its occurrence.
Heart Attack Reports Higher Among Men
At each specific age point from Americans' mid-30s on, men are consistently more likely than women to report having had a heart attack, confirming one of cardiology's most basic epidemiological facts of life.
Although the same age-related trends occur among men and women, the gender gap in heart attack...
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