flâneur

Death rates from cardiovascular disease have fallen dramatically — what were the breakthroughs behind this? | Our World in Data

ourworldindata.org · 3,662 words · saved by 1 readers

Over a century of progress in surgery, drugs, prevention, and emergency response has driven down death rates from heart disease and stroke.

Over a century of progress in surgery, drugs, prevention, and emergency response has driven down death rates from heart disease and stroke. For much of history, heart disease was a mystery. Middle-aged adults often collapsed without warning, and doctors usually blamed “dropsy”, “apoplexy”, or simply “old age.”1 In 1945 — at just 63 years old — President Franklin D. Roosevelt was sitting for a portrait when he raised a hand to his head and whispered, “I have a terrific pain in the back of my head.” Minutes later, he lost consciousness and died from a massive brain hemorrhage — a consequence…

saved by

related reading