412 ILLINOIS STATE ACADEMY OF SCIENCE 



HEART DISEASE AS A PUBLIC HEALTH 

 PROBLEM 



Dr. Sidney Strauss, Secretary, Chicago Association for 

 the Prevention and Relief of Heart Diseases 



It is no news to you to say that Heart Disease exists 

 everywhere; undoubtedly all of you have instances in 

 your own family. Nor does the mere existence of heart 

 disease make it a public health problem. To become a 

 problem for the public, it must be demonstrated that the 

 public will be benefited by a concerted effort for the con- 

 trol of this disease and that a concerted effort of all con- 

 cerned, doctors, social workers, hospital and dispensary 

 boards and the public is necessary for its control. 



While numbers alone do not make any disease a pub- 

 lis health problem, before it does become such a 

 problem the incidence of the disease must be so great 

 that it has grown beyond the reach of the few actively 

 engaged in combating it. There is no doubt that we do 

 not need an organization for the control of every disease 

 known to man, for instance such a disease as pernicious 

 anaemia, which the doctors and nurses can take care of 

 very well. It is different, however, with heart disease, 

 which in its various forms causes more deaths yearly 

 than any other one disease and which causes as much or 

 more sickness and disability than any other ailment. This 

 includes pneumonia, cancer and tuberculosis, against 

 which much good has been done by adequate organiza- 

 tion. It has been shown by reliable statistics that di- 

 seases of the heart cause Vs °f a ^ deaths of all ages and 

 1/5 of all deaths beyond the age of forty ; but, striking as 

 these statistics are, this is not the most important fact 

 which concerns the public. From examinations for the 

 draft and adequate examination of school children in New 

 York City it has been shown that about 2 per cent of 

 children and young adults have heart disease. Examina- 

 tions by life insurance companies show about the same 

 percentage. That is to say, in a cny of three million 

 inhabitants there are about sixty thousand who have 

 heart disease. You may say — "Well! What of it? Let 

 the doctors take care of them!" But there is more to it 



