Nearly a quarter of all heart attack and stroke deaths in South Carolina strike people younger than 65, and most of the victims are minorities, according to the Centers For Disease Control and Prevention.
The state's early death rate is much higher than nationally. Nationwide, about 17 percent of all heart disease deaths in 2001 were among those younger than 65.
In a study released this week, the agency also found that the death rate from heart disease has been tapering, though it hasn't been falling at the same pace for different groups.
There remain big gaps in the proportion of early heart disease deaths between different populations and regions of the country. Minorities, Southerners and men were all more likely to die early of a heart attack or stroke.
"It's a tragedy that so many people are dying unnecessarily," said Sam Oh, a research fellow in the CDC's Cardiovascular Health branch. "We know what the risk factors are. CDC has been giving these suggestions and recommendations, and yet heart disease is still the leading cause of death. And these deaths are not occurring uniformly across the population."
South Carolinians are not, as a whole, a healthy bunch. The state is filled with people who are inactive and smoke, and 57 percent of the population is either overweight or obese.
The result: The state has high rates of hypertension and diabetes.
It's this smorgasbord of risk factors that causes so many early deaths in South Carolina. According to the CDC study, 9,471 people died of heart disease in 2001, and 2,256 of those deaths occurred before the person turned 65.
Previous figures have shown the state leads the nation in the rate of stroke deaths.
Dr. Rick Foster, the medical director of Trident Health System, said the problem is that many of the state's heart disease patients are also diabetic.
Diabetes complicates heart disease, making it tougher to treat. The patients therefore are more likely to die early of a stroke or heart attack.
"I think that's a big factor," Foster said. "The more risk factors you have, the more likely you are to develop heart disease and have it at an earlier age."
One third of the men who died of a heart attack or stroke died before age 65. The proportion of women was 14.3 percent.
Minorities, meanwhile, saw bigger percentages of early deaths. The proportion was greatest among American Indians, 36 percent, and blacks, 31.5 percent. Just under 15 percent of whites died prematurely, according to the CDC.
The differences are in large part because of lifestyle and culture, experts said.
Dr. Lars Runquist, an interventional cardiologist at Roper Hospital, noted blacks are less likely to get early testing and treatment than whites.
"Physicians recognize that a white male, especially an elderly one, is at risk for heart disease," Runquist said. "Women and minorities are not typical poster children for heart disease."
