Million Hearts: Launching the Next Season of Success

As both 2016 and the first phase of Million Hearts®come to a close, let’s reflect on the progress we have made together in the past 5 years. More than 7 million people quit smoking, health IT tools helped identify more than half a million patients “hiding in plain sight” with undiagnosed hypertension, and health care systems are recognizing and rewarding excellence in the ABCS (aspirin when appropriate, blood pressure control, cholesterol management, and smoking cessation). While we celebrate these and other successes, we are excited to build on this strong foundation for the next phase of Million Hearts®, especially because the steady decline in cardiovascular deaths seen over the last 30 years is threatened by high rates of diabetes, obesity, and physical inactivity. Together, the Million Hearts® family will continue to build upon best practices, evidence, and shared tools and resources to help even more Americans live free of cardiovascular disease. By redoubling our collective and individual actions, we can ensure that more people will live free of heart disease and stroke because of your efforts in the next 5 years and beyond. —Janet Wright, MD, FACC Executive Director, Million Hearts®

Do This! Learn how to participate in the next 5 years of Million Hearts® In keeping communities healthy through renewed focus on ABCS, optimizing care in the clinical arena, and improving outcomes for priority populations, the next 5 years of Million Hearts® will be filled with numerous opportunities to improve outcomes—made possible by the collaboration and teamwork of our partners. Together, let’s accelerate prevention of heart attacks and strokes.

Tools You Can Use

• Explore evidence-based cholesterol management protocols for use in your practice—Having elevated low-density lipoprotein cholesterol is a major risk factor for heart attack, stroke, and heart disease. Check out these evidence-based cholesterol management protocols, including a cardiovascular disease risk calculator, to help manage and lower cholesterol levels among your at-risk patients.
• Encourage your patients to record their health histories—The Million Hearts^® My Health Résumé is a great way for patients to record and learn about their families’ histories. The Surgeon General’s secure online tool for recording family health history is another great option.
• Learn about “Healthy Aging in Action” from the Surgeon General—The number of individuals over the age of 65 is projected to reach 74 million by 2030. Learn more about this population and strategies to keep them healthy.
• Explore the roots of the Million Hearts^® Longitudinal ASCVD Risk Assessment Tool—Current risk models for predicting atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ASCVD) don’t take therapies into account. This new Million Hearts^® tool will predict the impact of the ABCS (aspirin when appropriate, blood pressure control, cholesterol management, and smoking cessation) on a person’s ASCVD risk.

Million Hearts^® in the Community

• The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) “can—and should—give consumers incentives to eat healthier.” Read or watch the interview with the Wall Street Journal; Robert Califf, Commissioner of the FDA; and Susan Mayne, director of the Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition at the FDA, as they discuss politics and the food industry.
• Hospital’s food service director cuts sodium by stealth. Eskenazi Health’s Tom Thaman was named Food Service Director of the Month in September 2016. Read about this health system’s innovative approaches to helping consumers make healthy food choices. Eskanazi Health is also a CDC Sodium Reduction in Communities Program participant.
• AHRQ’s new microsite for the EvidenceNOW grant initiative is now live. Find out more on the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality’s (AHRQ’s) grant initiative dedicated to helping small to medium-sized primary care practices across the country use the latest evidence to improve the heart health of millions of Americans.
• Million Hearts^® director interviews Hypertension Control Champion. In the November 2016 edition of “The Download” podcast, Million Hearts^® Executive Director Janet Wright interviews Jessica Moore from Petaluma Health Center, one of 2015’s Hypertension Control Champions, about how her team succeeded in achieving hypertension control for at least 70% of its patient population.

Let us know what you're doing to advance Million Hearts® in your community! Send us a short description with some key points, and we may feature you in a future e-Update!

The Science of Million Hearts^®

• New study links sodium consumption and long-term mortality. Most of the contrary evidence regarding sodium intake and cardiovascular outcomes is due to the lack of 24-hour urinary sodium collections and of repeated measures over time. In contrast, this study measured 24-hour urine electrolytes on seven occasions and found that subjects had a 12% increase in total mortality per 1,000 milligrams of increased intake over 24 hours.
• Special report: Exploring the development and intended use of the Million Hearts^® Longitudinal ASCVD Risk Assessment Tool. The tool builds on the “2013 ACC/AHA Guideline on the Assessment of Cardiovascular Risk” by allowing clinicians to estimate baseline and updated 10-year ASCVD risk estimates for primary prevention patients adhering to the appropriate ABCS over time, alone or in combination. The tool provides updated risk estimates based on evidence from high-quality systematic reviews and meta-analyses of the ABCS therapies.
• The proportion of U.S. adults who smoke is decreasing. The proportion of U.S. adults who smoke cigarettes declined from 20.9% in 2005 to 15.1% in 2015, according to CDC's recent Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report. The proportion of daily smokers also declined from 16.9% to 11.4%. However, disparities in cigarette smoking persist.