About one in every four deaths in the United States due to heart disease can be prevented with better preventive efforts and treatment, according to Reuters.
The study which is the first of its kind found that as many as 20,000 Americans might have been spared an early death in 2010 from a heart attack or stroke if they had received screening and treatment for preventable causes of heart disease such as high blood pressure, high cholesterol, obesity and smoking.
The report looked at preventable deaths from heart disease and stroke defined as those that occurred in people under age 75 that could have been prevented by more effective public health measures, lifestyle changes or medical care.
While the U.S Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has long tracked deaths from heart disease, it never previously issued a report estimating how many such deaths could be prevented.
In 2010, the states with the highest avoidable death rates were situated mostly in the South, including Mississippi, Oklahoma, Tennessee and Louisiana, the report stated. The states with the lowest rates were Minnesota, Utah, Colorado, Connecticut and New Hampshire, according to the report.
Heart disease is a leading killer in the United States, accounting for nearly 800,000 deaths a year -- about 30 percent of all deaths in the United States.
"Beginning in October, the health insurance marketplaces will provide a new way for people to get health insurance so more patients have access to quality health insurance and coverage beginning as early as January 2014," said CDC Director Dr. Tom Frieden while on a conference call with reporters.
