The highest rates in death from heart disease for men are found in the regions of this country with the poorest economies and few health care resources, particularly in underdeveloped rural areas,

Wealth in an area is sometimes exported to other parts of the country. Racial and ethnic disparities are not due to genetics or inborn differences in people of different races, but rather that they reflect social inequalities. Similarly, geographic disparities that we see across the country are not due to climate but reflect the social environment and local economies.

The major way we've reduced the death rate from heart disease is through lifestyle changes: eating better, exercising more, smoking less. It would require a lot of people to change the way they live, but there's no reason to think we can't have the same impact on Alzheimer's and other forms of dementia.

We're in a situation now where weight and extreme weight and heart disease is the biggest killer in this country today.

The diseased, anyway, are more interesting than the healthy. The words of the diseased, even those who can manage only a murmur, carry more weight than those of the healthy. Then, too, all healthy people will in the future know disease. That sense of time, ah, the diseased man’s sense of time, what treasure hidden in a desert cave. Then, too the diseased truly bite, whereas the healthy pretend to bite but really only snap at the air. Then, too, then, too, then, too.

It really is a great drug for heart disease.