To learn if heart attacks and heart disease risk factors could be reduced through community efforts, the Minneapolis Heart Institute Foundation, Minneapolis-based Allina Health and New Ulm (Minn.) Medical Center created a 10-year long population health project. Data collected from the first five years of the study are promising.
The population health project — called Hearts Beat Back: Heart of New Ulm Project — focuses on boosting heart health in the community by tackling known risk factors, like high cholesterol, high blood pressure, uncontrolled glucose, obesity, tobacco use, physical inactivity, low fruit and vegetable intake, and medication underutilization/non-adherence.
Based on data for roughly 6,000 participants, the project is having a positive affect on the community. Over five years, the share of people with normal blood pressure has increased from 79 percent to 86 percent, and those with total cholesterol below 200 has increased from 59 percent to 64 percent.