Does population-wide sodium reduction prevent cardiovascular disease and stroke?
Population-wide sodium reduction is highlighted as an important strategy to prevent cardiovascular disease and stroke, which are leading causes of morbidity, mortality, and healthcare costs.
B lood pressure (BP) -related diseases, specifically, stroke, coronary heart disease, heart failure, and kidney disease, are leading causes of morbidity and mortality in the United States and throughout the world. In the United States, coronary heart disease and stroke are the leading causes of mortality, whereas heart failure is the leading cause of hospitalizations. 1 Concurrently, the prevalence of chronic kidney disease remains high and is escalating. The direct and indirect costs of these conditions are staggering, over 400 billion just for cardiovascular disease (CVD) in 2009. The human consequences are likewise enormous.
Appel et al. (Fri,) studied this question.