一个世纪以来对心血管疾病的研究进展
When it comes to our health, people typically have a general understanding of what's best.
For instance, we know diet and exercise are important. 睡眠也. 不吸烟. And while we may not always remember the ideal numbers for weight, 胆固醇, 血压和血糖, 我们知道它们很重要.
我们知道我们应该每年做一次体检. We also know bad things can happen anyway, especially if they run in the family. And as scary as it is to imagine having a heart attack, we probably also know at least one survivor. Odds are we even know someone who survived without needing open-heart surgery; they likely got a stent or two. They might've even gone home from the hospital the next day.
Hopefully we know how to spot the signs of a stroke F.A.S.T. That is, 如果我们发现某人有(f)脸下垂, (a)有力的弱点或(s)含糊其辞, 是打911的时候了.
We're familiar with CPR and perhaps even learned how to do it, maybe as a requirement to graduate high school or for a job. 学习心肺复苏术可能也意味着学习除颤器, those small boxes that can shock a heart back into action.
While we could keep spooling this forward, let's go the other direction.
回想10……25……50……75…… 100 years ago. To "a time of almost unbelievable ignorance about heart disease," according to one of the pre-eminent cardiologists of the 20th 世纪,博士. 保罗·达德利·怀特.
He wasn't talking about ignorance among the general population. 他在谈论他自己和他的同龄人. They could hardly do anything to treat heart disease, much less prevent it.
这就是为什么他们决定做点什么.
6月10日, 1924, White and five other doctors signed the papers that formally created the 美国心脏协会. Working together, they hoped, would speed the discovery of lifesaving solutions.
Shortly after World War II, the organization transformed into something bigger and better. Instead of working with and for doctors, the AHA reorganized into a public health organization. It began raising funds, then spending that money on research, awareness campaigns and more.
Today, the AHA is many things: a leader, a convener, a driving force for the greater good. Yet what's collectively referred to as "the AHA" is really the sum of its parts: 32 million volunteers, 捐助者和支持者. 包括慷慨的公司, 慈善基金会, 其他卫生组织, 研究人员, doctors, advocates, 幸存者和更多.
Of all the ways to measure progress from 1924 to 2024, the best is probably the death rate from cardiovascular diseases. 它基本上被切成了两半. 这种进步是惊人的. We're talking about several million lives saved and improved 每年. 这是直接收益. Now widen the circle by including the other people whose lives are enhanced by having those folks around: their children, parents and grandparents; their friends, 邻居和同事.
虽然美国心脏协会不能把所有的进步都归功于自己, much of what is known about our hearts and brains can be traced to the organization in one way or another. 现在，为了纪念100人th birthday, the AHA will be celebrating throughout 2024.
It's a time to spotlight the AHA's founders and other dynamic figures, such as:
- 尤金Braunwald, who literally wrote the book on heart disease; "Braunwald's Heart Disease" is considered the 心脏病学的教科书.
- 纳内特温格, 先驱心脏病专家, 老师和领导, who was among the first people to focus on heart disease in women because she understood heart disease wasn't only something that happened to men.
- 爱德华•库珀, an early advocate for linking stroke and heart disease who became the first Black tenured professor at the nation's oldest medical school, 然后是美国心脏协会的第一位黑人主席.
这是一个珍惜这5美元的机会.7 billion-plus the AHA has invested in cardiovascular research, the most of any entity outside the federal government.
这些投资始于1948年. 进展很快. 当然了. After all, the landscape was like an unplowed field and the soil was getting turned over by scientists who'd been trained by the first generation of AHA scientists.
Consider this list of AHA-supported breakthroughs from the 1950s and '60s alone:
- 第一批降血压的药物, a landmark study that showed high blood pressure can decrease life expectancy, 也是第一种降胆固醇药物.
- The first successful artificial heart valve replacement and pioneering advancements in microsurgery. These advances led to today's minimally invasive procedures that end a heart attack by inserting stents to clear a blocked coronary artery and a similar procedure that ends a stroke by plucking a blood clot from inside the brain's artery.
- The first external defibrillator and then the first portable external defibrillator, leading to CPR being embraced as a way for anyone to save a life – and eventually, 技术的广泛传授.
- 第一个成功的电池供电, 可穿戴式起搏器, leading to these devices routinely being implanted to keep hearts beating at a normal rate and rhythm.
- The first links between fat we eat and blood 胆固醇, spurring the AHA's foray into dietary guidelines that urged 美国人 to eat a healthier diet. (1973年，美国心脏协会出版了第一本烹饪书. It's still in print, with more than 3 million copies sold.)
- The first scientific statement on smoking and heart disease, a precursor to the landmark report by the surgeon general on smoking and health.
This year also is a great time to explain the depth and breadth of how the AHA is working to improve and extend your life.
有时影响是显而易见的，比如心肺复苏术课程.
Sometimes it's subtle, like working to ensure you have a safe place to walk.
有时它是深刻的, like protecting the federal law requiring access to health care for all 美国人.
实际上，做这个 all 美国人, a typographic flourish often used to emphasize the organization's commitment to everyone, 到处都有机会享受更长线上电子游戏飞禽走兽, 健康的生活.
The organization has been working toward the concept of health equity since at least 1969, when the AHA created a task force to study why some diseases disproportionately affected certain groups – such as high blood pressure among Black people.
This led to new programs and priorities for the organization, 它开创了一个继续被维护的先例. The AHA was addressing "social determinants of health" long before the COVID-19 pandemic exposed those disparities. Seeing that, the organization doubled down on attacking those barriers.
There's another way of looking at the AHA's aim of helping all 美国人.
这也意味着组织关心 you. 关于改进和扩展 your life.
The best way to dive into that is by going back to the things mentioned at the beginning of this story: diet, exercise, sleep, 不吸烟, 控制体重, 胆固醇, 血压和血糖.
AHA-funded research showed those are the key factors to preventing heart disease and stroke. Master those and your chances of a longer, 健康的生活 go way up. 这就是为什么它们被称为“生活必需品”."
The organization spreads that information in various ways to various audiences, both in the public and among science and medicine professionals. The outreach to health care audiences is all about making sure newfound scientific findings make the leap from published papers to hospitals and clinics.
美国心脏协会-单独, or in partnership with other organizations – is heavily involved in creating treatment and prevention "guidelines" involving cardiovascular care. Quick example: The typical blood pressure target of 120/80.
The AHA offers all sorts of programs to help hospitals and clinics follow those guidelines. The organization also certifies care centers best equipped to treat heart attacks and strokes.
First responders know to take patients to those certified facilities whenever possible because it's built into the chain of events that starts with a 911 call. Also built in: Paramedics sharing information with the hospital while they're on the way.
这种交流加快了“从门到针”的线上电子游戏飞禽走兽," which is what it sounds like: logging how long it takes from a patient arriving at the hospital until they get certain potentially lifesaving medicines or procedures. 紧迫性有几个原因. 就能越快送到, 它们越有效(“浪费线上电子游戏飞禽走兽就是浪费大脑”)," is a common refrain of stroke care); also, guidelines are clear that some of those medicines can only be given within a certain time frame from the onset of symptoms.
Getting patients the care they need, when they need it, is a complex puzzle. 有时它需要制定公共政策. The AHA does that at every level, from your neighborhood to the federal government.
Suffice to say, the organization's impact is all around you.
Now, 在美国心脏协会成立的第二个世纪之初, 领导人在向前看, 专注于促进每个人的健康和希望, 到处都是.
As 美国心脏协会 CEO Nancy Brown likes to say, "Our future is about improving yours."
How?
有更多的前沿研究. 有了新技术. 方法如此创新，它们还不存在.
美国心脏协会志愿者主席. 约瑟夫·吴(Joseph Wu)是创造未来的人之一. 他经营着斯坦福心血管研究所, and one of his projects is studying the effects of zero gravity on the heart in preparation for the day when space travel becomes routine.
这是一种精神, 在科学会议上的演讲中, 吴思考着接下来会发生什么.
“谁知道? 100年后, this great organization may be celebrating its 200th anniversary on the planet Mars."
