Heart Diseases

In the twentieth century, physicians have acquired the tools to prevent heart disease in some cases and treat it effectively in many others. Major medical advances, such as the development of antibiotic therapy in the 1940s, have dramatically reduced heart disease due to syphilis and rheumatic fever. Developments in surgery, new drugs, diagnostic skill, and increasing knowledge about preventive medicine have also greatly reduced deaths from heart disease. Between 1980 and 1990, the death rate from heart disease dropped 26.7% in the United States, according to the American Heart Association (AHA).