Healthy People 2010
Objectives for Heart Disease and Stroke

Healthy People 2010 is a set of health objectives for the Nation to achieve over the first decade of the new century. It can be used by many different people, States, communities, professional organizations, and others to help them develop programs to improve health.

Healthy People 2010 builds on initiatives pursued over the past two decades. The 1979 Surgeon General's Report, Healthy People, and Healthy People 2000: National Health Promotion and Disease Prevention Objectives both established national health objectives and served as the basis for the development of State and community plans. Like its predecessors, Healthy People 2010 was developed through a broad consultation process, built on the best scientific knowledge and designed to measure programs over time.

The objectives specific to heart disease and stroke are, as follows:

• Reduce coronary heart disease deaths.
• Increase the proportion of adults aged 20 years and older who are aware of the early warning symptoms and signs of a heart attack and the importance of accessing rapid emergency care by calling 911.
• Increase the proportion of eligible patients with heart attacks who receive artery-opening therapy within an hour of symptom onset.
• Increase the proportion of adults aged 20 years and older who call 911 and administer cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) when they witness an out-of-hospital cardiac arrest.
• Increase the proportion of eligible persons with witnessed out-of-hospital cardiac arrest who receive their first therapeutic electrical shock within 6 minutes after collapse recognition.
• Reduce hospitalizations of older adults with congestive heart failure as the principal diagnosis.
• Reduce stroke deaths.
• Increase the proportion of adults who are aware of the early warning symptoms and signs of a stroke.

Many other related goals are addressed in Healthy People 2010. For more information, please refer to the Healthy People 2010 web site.