February 3, 1982
By the President of the United States
of America
A Proclamation
Diseases of the heart and circulatory system remain our nation's most serious health problem.
These diseases affect at least 40 million Americans, many of whom have been seriously and often
permanently disabled. Heart disease causes one million deaths each year and costs the nation more
than $60 billion a year in lost wages, productivity, and medical expenses.
However, progress has been made in recent years to substantially reduce illness, disability, and
death from heart disease. For most heart and blood vessel diseases, death rates have been
declining slowly but steadily since 1950. Over the past decade, death rates have declined in all
cardiovascular-disease categories and at a pace double that of the death rate for all other
causes.
In human terms, we know that 300,000 Americans who would have died from cardiovascular
disease during 1981 are still alive today. This development has been a major contributing factor to
the three-year increase in the life expectancy of Americans in the past decade.
We have learned much about averting the onset of cardiovascular disease. Americans are
increasingly aware of the crucial role lifestyles play in affecting their risk of these diseases. By
recognizing the importance of proper nutrition, reduced smoking, exercise, and prevention of high
blood pressure, our citizens are making a major contribution to the fight against heart disease. The
role of prevention in cardiovascular diseases is especially vital because the initial symptoms are so
frequently lethal or permanently disabling.
While we have made significant progress in the treatment of this group of diseases, they still take
an appallingly high toll on our people. Cardiovascular diseases still account for more than 50
percent of the deaths in America; coronary heart disease is the primary cause of death.
Clearly, we must continue our vigorous efforts to stem the great amount of death and disability
cardiovascular diseases cause in our nation. To this end, the Congress has requested the President
to issue annually a proclamation designating February as American Heart Month.
Now, Therefore, I, Ronald Reagan, President of the United States of America, do hereby
proclaim the month of February, 1982, as American Heart Month. I invite the Governors of the
States, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the officials of other areas subject to the jurisdiction of
the United States and the American people to join with me in reaffirming our commitment to the
resolution of the nationwide problem of cardiovascular disease.
In Witness Whereof, I have hereunto set my hand this third day of February, in the year of our
Lord nineteen hundred and eighty-two, and of the Independence of the United States of America
the two hundred and sixth.
Ronald Reagan
[Filed with the Office of the Federal Register, 4:12 p.m., February 3, 1982]