CDC Division for Heart Disease and Stroke Prevention
Two of the programs the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Division for Heart Disease and Stroke Prevention (DHDSP) provides funding for are
National Heart Disease and Stroke Prevention Program
In 1998, Congress provided funding for CDC to initiate a national, state-based heart disease and stroke prevention program in eight states. Currently, CDC funds 41 states and the District of Columbia. Twenty-eight are capacity building (planning) programs, and 14 are basic implementation programs (conducting intervention strategies to reduce heart disease and stroke risks and improve quality of care).
Program Purpose
The purpose of the Program is to increase the leadership and capacity of State health departments in cardiovascular disease prevention using policy and systems change in worksites, health care, and communities. The Funding Opportunity Announcement released in 2007 identified the following program priorities:
- Increase control of high blood pressure
- Increase control of high cholesterol
- Increase knowledge of signs and symptoms of heart attack and stroke and the importance of calling 911
- Improve emergency response
- Improve quality of heart disease and stroke care
- Eliminate disparities in terms of race, ethnicity, gender, geography, or socioeconomic status
Current Program Activities
State programs have been directed to focus on the ABCS of heart disease and stroke, which are defined as:
- Aspirin: Increase low-dose aspirin therapy according to recognized guidelines
- Blood pressure: Prevent and control high blood pressure; reduce sodium intake
- Cholesterol: Prevent and control high blood cholesterol
- Smoking: Increase the number of smokers told to quit and referred to quit lines by health care workers; increase availability of no- or low-cost cessation programs
State programs also need to focus on public health capacities to:
- Develop and maintain partnerships
- Collaborate with other public health chronic disease programs (e.g., tobacco control, diabetes, physical inactivity, poor nutrition, and obesity prevention)
- Leverage resources with public and private sector organizations to develop and integrate population-based strategies to prevent heart disease and stroke
- Define and monitor the burden of heart disease and stroke
- Conduct surveillance of heart disease, stroke, and related risk factors
- Develop, update, and facilitate the implementation of a comprehensive State chronic disease prevention and control plan with objectives to reduce heart disease and stroke
- Identify and evaluate promising practices to address heart disease and stroke
- Develop, plan, and implement population-based policy and systems change intervention strategies that address the program priority areas in various settings (e.g., worksite, health care, and community)
- Enhance program evaluation
- Develop an HDSP program logic model and evaluation plan
The Paul Coverdell National Acute Stroke Registry
In 2001, Congress directed CDC to implement the Paul Coverdell National Acute Stroke Registry. Today, Coverdell funds six states to implement state-centric, hospital-based Coverdell stroke registries to measure, track, and improve the quality of acute stroke care.
Program Purpose
The purpose of the registries is to:
- Develop and implement systems for collecting data on acute stroke care provided to patients
- Analyze the collected data
- Use the results to guide quality improvement interventions
Program Mission
The mission of the Paul Coverdell National Acute Stroke Registry is to:
- Measure, track, and improve the quality of care and access to care for stroke patients from onset of stroke symptoms through rehabilitation and recovery
- Decrease rate of premature death and disability from acute stroke
- Eliminate disparities in care
- Support development of stroke systems of care that emphasize quality of care
- Improve access to rehabilitation and opportunities for recovery after stroke
- Increase the workforce capacity and scientific knowledge for stroke surveillance within stroke systems of care
Last updated
May 31, 2012
