Have you had a heart attack or been diagnosed with heart failure, angina or heart disease? Find your best treatment option with new online tool

American Heart Association
Monday, 6 May 2002

Heart Profilers™ offer free, personalized information on your condition

Have you had a heart attack or has your doctor said you have heart failure, angina (chest pain) or heart disease? You aren't alone. This year, an estimated 12,600,000 people alive today have a history of heart attack, angina pectoris, or both. More than 45 percent of the people who experience a coronary attack will die. Until now, learning about the best treatments was a complicated and frustrating prospect. The American Heart Association recently launched Heart Profilers™, a free, Web-based interactive tool that provides personalized information, based on the latest clinical research, to enable heart disease patients, their families and caregivers to manage their disease and make better treatment decisions. Heart Profilers helps patients and their physicians become active partners in developing treatment options, understanding potential side effects and maximizing their appointments. The Heart Profilers can be found by logging onto americanheart.org and clicking on the Heart Profilers icon (or americanheart.org/heartprofilers).

"Being told by a doctor that you have a heart attack, angina or heart failure can be devastating. These are deadly conditions and people desire information, options and hope. With the Heart Profilers, the American Heart Association offers patients and their doctors easy-to-understand treatment options so they can make the right choice for each individual," says Clyde Yancy, M.D., Associate Professor of Medicine/Cardiology, University of Texas Southwestern, and American Heart Association volunteer. "The Heart Profilers are the first patient-specific, heart disease decision support tool on the Web. They use the latest clinical research to help heart patients and caregivers work together to make informed decisions relevant to their individual situations."

Cardiovascular disease is the number one killer of Americans. Approximately 61.8 million Americans have one or more type of cardiovascular disease (7.5 million heart attack, 6.4 million angina), including more than 24.7 million age 65 and older and 32.1 million (52 percent of the total) women. 12.6 million people alive today have a history of heart attack, angina or both (6.2 million males and 6.4 million females). Nearly 4.8 million Americans are living with heart failure and about 550,000 new cases occur each year. From 1979-1999 (most recent figures available) deaths due to heart failure increased 145 percent.

Unlike basic informational Web sites, the Heart Profilers match each patient's medical information or profile with published clinical research studies. Treatment information is specific to each individual patient's condition. The program takes about 20 minutes to sign in, to create a personalized profile and to generate an initial report. Patients can receive side effect descriptions for particular drugs, understand how their treatment compares with others, and download questions that they should ask their physician. All information is written to be easily understood and includes an integrated index of medical terminology to make sure patients truly understand their condition and all treatment options. In addition, the tool can connect interested patients to nearby clinical trials so that they can benefit from experimental treatment programs.

Since Heart Profilers are backed by the American Heart Association, one of the world's leading supporters of cardiovascular medical research and education, patients can be assured that they are receiving the most credible, up-to-date information available. All studies included in the Heart Profilers are reviewed by a Medical Editorial Board, made up of key industry thought-leaders, to ensure their credibility, accuracy and relevance. New studies are reviewed and added monthly.

All patient data is kept private and is accessible only by the user. It is encrypted for maximum security, and will not be shared with anyone else without the patient's specific consent.

In addition to the patient tools, Heart Profilers include corresponding professional tools that enable physicians to evaluate scientific literature based on patient case modeling methods. This case-based technology provides a highly effective method for searching published clinical research, and is an intuitive educational tool.

Additional Heart Profilers, covering conditions such as arrhythmias, high cholesterol (hyperlipidemia) and high blood pressure (hypertension), may also be developed.

For more information, or to contact American Heart Association, see their website at: www.americanheart.org