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Year after year, West Virginia ranks near the bottom in state-by-state surveys of cardiovascular health and healthy lifestyle.
In 1995, the age-adjusted rate of heart disease was 328 / 100,000, which is 21% higher than the national average and 49th in the nation. Results from the 1997 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Behavioral Risk Factor Survey revealed that West Virginia had the highest rate of obesity, the third-highest rate of self-reported hypertension, and the fifth-highest rate of smoking in the nation.
But today, a prevention effort known as the Coronary Artery Risk Detection in Appalachian Communities (CARDIAC) Project ...