Israel Among Top 10 Nations For Heart Disease Fatalities

At a cardiac health seminar in Jerusalem, the medical 
director of Bikur Holim Hospital in Jerusalem and president 
of the Israeli Heart to Heart Association announced that 
Israel ranks among the world's top 10 countries for the 
incidence of death from heart and vascular disease.  
About 10,000 people die of heart and vascular disease 
each year, most outside hospitals. Although there has been 
a dramatic decrease in cardiovascular disease in the past 
20 years in Israel, it remains the principal cause of death 
in the country.  Over 40% of all deaths, it is maintained, 
can be attributed to cardiovascular disease.  Israel has not 
yet reached the level of achievement prevalent in the Western 
world concerning early prevention of heart disease, especially 
concerning the prevention of smoking, early detection of high 
blood pressure and diabetes and the struggle against obesity, 
the main risk factors for heart disease.  
(Haaretz 2001/05)