: Help For People With Hert Disese “= (NAPSA)—If you or someone you know hs hd hert ttck, or if doctor sys you hve hert filure, tril fibrilltion, ngin (chest pin) or hert disese, tke hert. You ren’t lone. An estimted 12,600,000 people live tody hve history of hert ttck, ngin pectoris, or both. Two million Americns re estimted to hvetrilfibrilltion. Unfortuntely, more thn 45 percent of the people who experience coronry ttck in given yer will die from it. Until now, lerning bout the best tretments could be complicted nd frus- trting prospect. The Americn Individulized informtion bout hert conditions, vilble on the Internet, my help millions of Americns live longer, betterlives. reserch, to enble hert disese two million tril fibrilltion), Hert Assocition recently lunched Hert Profilers, free, Web-bsed interctive tool tht provides personlized informtion, bsed on the ltest clinicl ptients, their fmilies nd cregivers to mnge their disese nd mke better tretment decisions with their doctor. The progrm helps people nd their physicins become ctive prtners in developing tretment options, understnding potentil side effects nd mximizing their ppointments. It cn be found by logging onto mericnhert.org nd clicking on the Hert Profilers icon (or mericnhert. org/hert profilers). “Being told by doctor tht you hve hert ttck, ngin or hert filure cn be devstting. These re dedly conditions nd people desire informtion, options ndhope. With the Hert Profilers, the Americn Hert Assocition offers ptients nd their doctors esy-to-understnd tretment options so they cn mkethe right choice for ech individul,” sys Clyde Yncy, M.D., Associte Professor of Medicine/Crdiology, University of Texs Southwestern, nd Americn Hert Assocition volunteer. “The Hert Profilers re the first ptient-specific, hert disese decision support tool on the Web. They use the ltest clinicl reserch to help hert ptients nd cregivers work together to mke informed decisions relevnt to their individul situtions.” Crdiovsculr disese is the number one killer of Americns. Approximtely 61.8 million Ameri- cns hve one or more typeof crdiovsculr disese (7.5 million hert ttck, 6.4 million ngin, including more thn 24.7 million ge 65 nd older nd 32.1 million (52 percent of the totl) women. Nerly 4.8 million Americns re living with congestive hert filure nd bout 550,000 new cses occur ech yer. From 1979-1999 (most recent figures vilble), deths due to hert filure incresed 145 percent. Unlike bsic informtionl Web sites, the Hert Profilers mtch ech ptient’s medicl informtion or profile with published clinicl reserch studies. Tretment informtion is specific to ech individul ptient’s condition. The progrm tkes bout 20 minutes to sign in, to crete personlized profile nd to generte n initil report. Ptients receive inform- tion on how their tretment compres with others, nd cn downlod questions tht they should sk their physicin. All informtion is written to be esily understood nd includes n integrted index of medicl terms to mke sure ptients truly understnd their condition nd ll tretment options. In ddition, the tool cn connect interested people to nerby clinicl trils so tht they cn benefit from new tretment progrms. Since Hert Profilers re bcked by the Americn Hert Assocition, one of the world’s leding supporters of crdiovsculr medicl reserch nd eduction, ptients cn be ssured tht they re receiving the most credible, up-to-dte informtion vilble.
