HEART DISEASE.

Waikato Times, Volume 110, Issue 18392, 28 July 1931, Page 10

HEART DISEASE.

WHY IS IT GROWING? AMERICAN INQUIRY. The United States Public Health Service is planning to undertake its first study of heart disease in the United States. Working with a special fund of 10,000 dollars, its experts will explore the field as thoroughly as they can, to learn why the malady is the greatest single cause of death among adults (says the New York Times). The survey, which will be started at the beginning of the fiscal year, July 1, will probably require five years to complete. Heart disease claims each year an increasing number of victims. In the United States registration area the affliction caused 132.1 deaths per 100,000 of population in 1900. By 1910 the rate had jumped to 158.8; in 1920 it was 159.3; and in 1929 it had gone up to 210.9. In 1927 heart disease accounted for 211,976 deaths; in 1928 the figure was 237,839, and in 1929 it rose to 2-15,244.

That is why the Public Health Service, in deciding to conduct a survey of the diseases which are the principal causes of deatli among adults, has naturally selected heart disease for its initial investigation. Maladies of the heart are not sectional, nor apparently are they confined to any particular group in the population. If it is found that there are any means of reducing the toll the gain will be shared almost equally by all parts of the country.

Health Improvement. In undertaking a campaign against the principal hazards to health many years ago the organisation, now headed by Surgeon-General Hugh S. Cummlng, devoted its efforts at first mainly to improving the standards of sanitation. Emphasis was placed on pure water, pure milk, and the elimination of the conditions which caused typhoid l'ever, yellow fever, and other 'diseases to be almost endemic in many of our larger cities. The country was quick to respond to the leadership of the Public Health Service and other agencies in the same field, with the result that to-day the standards of sanitation are inflintely higher than they were 30 years ago. Next, the Public Health Service directed its weapons against diseases of childhood, and made a drive to reduce the very high maternity death rate. It has now been engaged for some years in work along these lines, and the expectancy of life has steadily increased for children. Adults, however, have not gained correspondingly.

Realising that it is now the turn of the adult population, the Public Health Service proposes to take up immediately heart disease, whose victims number many thousands of men and women cut down in the prime of life. The field of investigation, as charted, will cover four subjects, the first of which concerns the effect of certain infectious diseases on the heart. A relationship is known to exist between rheumatism and scarlet feve” on the one side and the heart on the other, but medical science has still many dark corners to explore.

Toxic Agencies. Light will be sought concerning the effect of toxic agencies, such as lead and alcoholic poisoning, on the heart. Medical men agree that such poisons do have an effect of this sort, but there is need to determine precisely whether they permanently injure the heart and whether remedies can be found. i

As a third channel of exploration the Public Health Service will try to ascertain the relationship between over-exertion and deterioration of the heart. If competitive sport tends to injure the heart, is this more true of certain sports than of others? Which involves the greater strain—football or rowing? These and related questions press for an answer. Finally', the public health investigators hope to find out whether heart disease can he inherited. They believe that- by selecting certain families whoso mortality records go back several generations or more they may gather enough data to warrant certain generalisations. During tho years ' 1921-23 the Registrar-General of Great Britain conducted a survey of occupational mortality among males in England and Wales. Five classes of skilled and unskilled labour were recognised. Mortality' from valvular heart diseases from all classes averaged 58 per 100,000 population. Class I. showed a rate of 33, Class 111. 56, and Class V. 74. Much higher rates than the average characterised certain occupations, notably barmen 117, and coal mine workers 95. The standardised rate for other heart diseases was 60, the rate for Class I. being 64, Class 111. 54, and Class V. 69. Here again we And certain occupations with much higher mortality rates, notably innkeepers, hotelkeepers and publicans, 109; costermongers, hawkers and street-sellers, 100; and porters, 99. Tlie proposed survey should bring to light comparable data for certain occupations in the United States, though probably no attempt will be made to consider, the population by social classes. Some of the research work will be done in Hie laboratory and some in the Held. The Public Health Service will lay the results before tho medical profession, hoards of health, and others interested.