HEALTH

asleep” is their first symptom,

a heart attack is the second —
and since many heart attacks
can be fatal, the first symptom
can also be the last.

PRESCRIPTION

T he best things people can

do to cover their bases are
those we hear over and over: get
plenty of exercise, don’t smoke,
limit stress and keep your blood
pressure down, lower your cho-
lesterol and triglyceride levels
to acceptable norms. The city
has already begun making it a
little easier for its citizens to eat

Every 34 seconds
that ticks by on your
wristwatch, someone
in the country dies of
heart attack.

healthier. A poor diet aggravates

practically every existing medi-
cal condition there is; the need
for a change in the eating hab-
its of the nation is plain, and in
that respect New York is leading
the way. A citywide restaurant
ban on unhealthy trans fats was
phased in beginning in 2007,
and since last July, all food ser-
vice establishments have been
required to keep the amount of
trans fats in each serving to under
0.5 grams.
And new findings offer ad-
ditional reasons to think things
aren’t as grim as they seem. For
years it was a point of inter-
est that while New York City’s
risk factors were comparable to
many other cities, deaths from
heart disease were still higher
than any other city in America.
But a recent joint study by the
city Health Department and
the Center for Disease Control
and Prevention found that in as
many as 51 percent of the re-
ported in-hospital deaths from
heart disease, the cause of death
was actually misdiagnosed.
ll HIV/AIDS
DIAGNOSIS
I t’s easier to dismiss the signif-
icance of the HIV and AIDS
statistics in New York City when
they’re compared to the same
figures for sub-Saharan Africa,
but the city is still widely con-
sidered to be the epicenter of
the AIDS epidemic in America.
Right now slightly over 100,000
New Yorkers are estimated to
be living with HIV. While Man-
hattan has technically had a
higher incidence of HIV and
AIDS diagnoses for many years,
the death rate is higher in the
Bronx due to the poorer popula-
tion; many of those afflicted do
not get tested until the disease
is in a later stage, and treatment
options have dwindled. To that
end, last June the Health De-
partment launched the biggest
HIV testing initiative in the
history of the city. The aim of
“The Bronx Knows” program is
ambitious: having every Bronx
resident between the ages of 18
and 64 to know their HIV sta-
tus within the next three years.
PROGNOSIS
T he Health Department re-
leased a study in August that
found about 4,800 New Yorkers
contracted HIV in 2006 — sug-
gesting that HIV is spreading in
the city at roughly three times
the national rate.
Much of this can be attrib-
uted to demographics, as two
of the hardest hit segments of
the population are very highly
represented in the city — blacks
and gay men, or in Health De-
partment-parlance, MSMs (Men
who have Sex with other Men).
Each group accounted for nearly
half of the city’s new HIV infec-
tions in 2006. Blacks are being
infected at about 3.5 times the
rate of whites; while the infec-
tion rate for Hispanics is about
double that of whites.
PRESCRIPTION
T reatment options have made
gigantic leaps forward —
anti-retroviral drugs have im-
proved the quality of life be-
yond what was ever thought
possible for those suffering from
HIV — and prevention efforts
have kept pace with the medi-
cal breakthroughs. New syringe
exchange programs have helped
cut into the infection rate of in-
jection drug users, and it’s never
been easier to get your hands on
a condom in New York. This is
a city that is truly awash with
free prophylactics. You can’t
turn around in these parts with-
out knocking over a basketful of
them on a countertop. Any New
York establishment — nightclub,
coffee shop, barbershop, bodega,
or Masonic temple — can place
a completely free bulk order for
these lubricated, Lifestyles latex
condoms by calling 311 or visiting
nyc.gov/condoms.

Resident The Week Of November 4, 2008 • 31