Statement by the President on the Toll Taken by Heart Diseases.

THE TREMENDOUS toll of the heart diseases must be of deep concern to all our citizens. Combatting the Nation's leading cause of death has become our most serious national health problem.

Most recent figures compiled by our National Office of Vital Statistics show that more than 625,000 Americans die annually of diseases of the heart and blood vessels. This total grows each year. Included among the victims are the young and the old, children of school age, and thousands of men and women in the prime of life. The heart diseases, I am informed, now account for one out of every two deaths after the age of forty. Incredible as it may seem, according to vital statistics, deaths from cardiovascular disease are greater than the combined toll of the next five leading causes--cancer, accidents, nephritis, pneumonia, and tuberculosis.

I feel that it is the obligation of our citizens to give the utmost support to the governmental and voluntary programs established to fight heart disease. It is essential that we join with the medical profession in this public health crusade.

I, therefore, call upon every American to inform himself about the heart diseases and the programs being undertaken to combat them in the Nation and in his community.

The hope for progress lies in the simple determination of each one of us to cooperate with our physicians in safeguarding individual health and the health of the family and to work with our neighbors in supporting community efforts in the war against heart disease.