Florida Senate - 2024 (NP) SR 1816
By Senator Rouson
16-02651-24 20241816__
1 Senate Resolution
2 A resolution recognizing April 2024 as “Minority
3 Health Month” in Florida and calling upon all
4 Floridians to get routine cholesterol tests.
5
6 WHEREAS, high cholesterol, also called
7 hypercholesterolemia, is the chronic presence of high levels of
8 cholesterol in the blood, which can lead to cardiovascular
9 disease (CVD) and even cardiovascular events like heart attacks
10 and strokes, and
11 WHEREAS, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
12 (CDC) estimates that CVD is the most underappreciated public
13 health crisis of our time, with someone in the United States
14 having a heart attack every 40 seconds despite roughly 80
15 percent being preventable, and
16 WHEREAS, although low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL
17 C), or “bad” cholesterol, is an easily modifiable risk factor
18 for CVD, and lower LDL-C is associated with a reduced risk of
19 heart attack and stroke, more than 80 million American adults
20 have high LDL-C, and
21 WHEREAS, African-American adults are 30 percent more likely
22 than non-Hispanic white American adults to have high blood
23 pressure, and African-American females are nearly 50 percent
24 more likely to have high blood pressure than non-Hispanic white
25 females, and
26 WHEREAS, in 2019, African Americans were 30 percent more
27 likely to die from CVD than non-Hispanic white Americans, and
28 WHEREAS, the AHA indicates that CVD disproportionately
29 impacts minority populations, affecting 52.3 percent of
30 Hispanic-American males and 42.7 percent of Hispanic-American
31 females over the age of 20, and 60.1 percent of African-American
32 males and 58.8 percent of African-American females over the age
33 of 20, and
34 WHEREAS, the CDC has found that 1 in 3 deaths in the United
35 States are due to CVD, and CVD results in more than $216 billion
36 in annual health care costs, and
37 WHEREAS, according to a study published in the Journal of
38 the American Medical Association, nearly 60 percent of middle
39 aged Hispanic-American adults have high cholesterol, yet only
40 half are aware of it, and
41 WHEREAS, the resources needed to lower the instances of CVD
42 exist, yet 71 percent of hypercholesterolemia patients at high
43 risk of a cardiovascular event never achieve the recommended
44 LDL-C treatment guideline thresholds, and
45 WHEREAS, the LDL-C Action Summit, a consortium of the
46 nation’s leading cardiovascular stakeholder groups, seeks to cut
47 cardiovascular events in half by 2030, and
48 WHEREAS, the CDC’s Million Hearts program seeks to increase
49 access to, and improve the quality of, cardiovascular care to
50 reduce heart disease, stroke, and death, and
51 WHEREAS, the United States Department of Health and Human
52 Services Office of Minority Health recognizes April as National
53 Minority Heath Month, and
54 WHEREAS, all Floridians are urged to know their LDL-C
55 level, and
56 WHEREAS, providers are urged to treat all CVD patients in
57 accordance with American College of Cardiology treatment
58 guidelines, and
59 WHEREAS, the Florida Department of Health is urged to
60 update the state’s cardiovascular health plan to improve the
61 quality of cardiovascular care, accelerate measures to achieve
62 improved health outcomes for patients with CVD, and develop
63 campaigns to increase cholesterol tests during the month of
64 April, NOW, THEREFORE,
65
66 Be It Resolved by the Senate of the State of Florida:
67
68 That April 2024 is recognized as “Minority Health Month” in
69 Florida, and all Floridians are called upon to get routine
70 cholesterol tests.