Heart disease is the leading killer in America, causing 1 in every 5 deaths. In recent years, the country has been largely losing the battle against it. It's especially tragic given that an estimated 80 percent of cardiovascular disease (including heart disease and stroke) can be prevented. The economic costs are severe as well, reaching an estimated $422 billion a year.
While this problem affects every community, it's worse in areas further from cities. "Adults living in rural areas of the United States have a 19% higher risk of developing heart failure compared to their urban counterparts," the National Institutes of Health (NIH) reported. It's also worse along racial and ethnic lines. A study found that "Black men living in rural areas have an especially higher risk – 34%," the NIH said.
Among those of us who work to improve the nation's heart health, a new study set off alarms. It found that nearly 90 percent of U.S. adults over age 20 have a syndrome that can lead to heart disease.
It's never been so clear that new efforts are needed. One of the most important steps we can take as a nation is to vastly expand and democratize access to good cardiovascular health care. This means taking the kinds of treatments that are all too often limited to medical centers in cities and making them available in as many locations as possible.
Currently, much of the country is composed of so-called health care deserts that lack adequate facilities or numbers of caregivers. Some are specifically cardiology deserts. Nearly half the nation's counties, 46 percent, don't have a cardiology practice. And with 60 percent of cardiologists at or near retirement age, the number of counties could grow.
The good news is that the time we're living in offers unprecedented opportunities to tackle this crisis. New and emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI) open up a world of possibilities. As the American Heart Association reported, "Artificial intelligence may do a better job than humans at spotting high-risk patients using results from a heart test, leading to better care and lower death rates, researchers say."
It's incumbent on doctors and scientists to work with developers and build tools that can extend top notch care to far more places. I'm already seeing this in action. I'm part of a group at AliveCor that has pioneered a new handheld system using AI to transform ECGs (electrocardiograms), which test how well the heart is functioning. We've just received FDA clearance for a first of its kind technology that encapsulates the kind of shift the nation needs to see more of.
Each year, more than 100 million ECGs are administered in the United States. So millions of Americans know what they're like, and how awkward and uncomfortable they can be. They involve big machines and 10 electrodes placed across a patient's body, so the patient has to disrobe. They're referred to as "12-lead ECGs." All too often, patients have to travel to hospitals to get these tests that can spot heart problems—including a history of "silent" heart attacks—and help to save their lives.
The team I work with created a 12-lead ECG that uses a single cable and five electrodes, with no need for the patient to disrobe. It employs deep neural network AI models to simplify and accelerate the process of getting high quality data. Perhaps most importantly, any health care provider can use it. It doesn't have to be a cardiologist. It can be a doctor, nurse, or other clinician in small clinics, remote settings, or doing home visits.
Using technology to build more portable health care devices is a key to closing "the urban-rural health divide," the nonprofit Global Research and Consulting Group reported. And as one of the few doctors who have made house calls in recent years, I know from experience that having portable, easy-to-use tools would have dramatically improved the kinds of care I could offer patients in their homes.
In a proclamation earlier this year, President Joe Biden expressed his commitment to "breaking new bounds in heart disease research and treatment," and noted the importance of "access to good health care." It's time for all of us to help make that a reality.
Dr. Ben Green is a board-certified family physician and senior vice president, services for AliveCor.
The views expressed in this article are the writer's own.
Uncommon Knowledge
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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
