Mortality and morbidity from cardiovascular disease (CVD) are common in our state. Cardiovascular disease may be a little less widespread here than in most other states, but it is a public health problem of the first order – and it will only become more important in the next few years as the state’s population continues to age.

An alarming feminization of cardiovascular mortality is emerging in Alaska. Alaskan women are beginning to lose their historic advantages in cardiovascular mortality over men and over women in other states. This trend deserves greater notice by public health planners and providers of primary care services.

Alaska is a young state, and the burden of cardiovascular disease continues to be borne disproportionately by those under age 65 years. Because of our state’s relatively youthful age structure, death or hospitalization due to cardiovascular disease is more often a younger person’s misfortune than in other states. This would suggest that public health interventions developed elsewhere that target senior citizens might not have as much impact in reducing the toll of cardiovascular disease in Alaska.

The prevalence of several key cardiovascular risk factors is high in Alaska, particularly in subgroups with relatively low income and education. Clinicians and public health professionals need to pay close attention to the gulf in social class – not just the gap in race and ethnicity – between themselves and those most in need of risk reduction.