The decline and rise of coronary heart disease: understanding public health catastrophism.

Publisher: American Public Health Association Country of Publication: United States NLM ID: 1254074 Publication Model: Print-Electronic Cited Medium: Internet ISSN: 1541-0048 (Electronic) Linking ISSN: 00900036 NLM ISO Abbreviation: Am J Public Health Subsets: MEDLINE

Publication: Washington, DC : American Public Health Association
Original Publication: New York [etc.]

Communicable Diseases/*epidemiology ; Coronary Disease/*epidemiology; Catastrophization ; Communicable Diseases/history ; Communicable Diseases/mortality ; Coronary Disease/history ; Coronary Disease/mortality ; Global Health/trends ; Health Policy ; History, 20th Century ; History, 21st Century ; Humans ; Public Health Surveillance ; United States/epidemiology

The decline of coronary heart disease mortality in the United States and Western Europe is one of the great accomplishments of modern public health and medicine. Cardiologists and cardiovascular epidemiologists have devoted significant effort to disease surveillance and epidemiological modeling to understand its causes. One unanticipated outcome of these efforts has been the detection of early warnings that the decline had slowed, plateaued, or even reversed. These subtle signs have been interpreted as evidence of an impending public health catastrophe. This article traces the history of research on coronary heart disease decline and resurgence and situates it in broader narratives of public health catastrophism. Juxtaposing the coronary heart disease literature alongside the narratives of emerging and reemerging infectious disease helps to identify patterns in how public health researchers create data and craft them into powerful narratives of progress or pessimism. These narratives, in turn, shape public health policy.

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Date Created: 20130518 Date Completed: 20130813 Latest Revision: 20240324

20240324

PMC3682614

10.2105/AJPH.2013.301226

23678895