American Heart Association

The American Heart Association (AHA) is a voluntary health agency whose mission is “to reduce disability and death from cardiovascular diseases and stroke.” The AHA has its roots in the Association for the Prevention and Relief of Heart Disease in 1915 in New York City, in order to study the progress of heart disease and whether patients could recover and return to work. Heart associations were founded in other American cities, and the need for a national organization became apparent. In 1924, six cardiologists founded the AHA: Lewis Conner, Robert Halsey, Paul White, Joseph Sailer, Robert Preble, and Hugh McCulloch.

The AHA reorganized in 1948 to allow in nonmedical volunteers with skills in education, communication, business management, community organization, and fund-raising. The first national fund-raising campaign was launched in 1949 and raised $2.7 million. In 2005, the AHA's annual revenue was over $697 million, of which about one-third was raised from donations, one-third from fund-raising events, 11 percent from bequests, and the rest from a combination of sources. The AHA's greatest expenditures in 2005 were for public health education (about 40 percent) and research (about 21 percent). The National AHA Center is located in Dallas, Texas; there are also 12 affiliate offices in the United States and Puerto Rico.

Educating the public about heart disease and promoting a healthy lifestyle is a major goal of the AHA. Information about topics including cholesterol, smoking, overweight and obesity, and physical activity and their relationship to heart disease is available from the AHA Web site. The AHA also produces publications for the purpose of promoting a heart-healthy lifestyle, including fact sheets and brochures and cookbooks, and also produces videos and CDs on related topics; many materials are available in both English and Spanish.

The AHA promotes professional education through sponsorship of scientific conferences and continuing education courses for health professionals. Slide sets for use in teaching and professional presentations are available from the AHA Web site. The AHA also funds research related to heart disease in a number of areas, including applied research, basic biomedical research, outcomes research, population health research, and translational research.

The AHA has issued Scientific Position statements on several topics related to obesity, which are available from the AHA Web site. The AHA Scientific Position on Obesity and Overweight states that obesity is a major risk factor for coronary heart disease, and explains how obesity is defined using waist circumference measurement and the body mass index (BMI).

Other AHA Scientific Position statements relating to obesity and overweight include statements on Obesity and Cardiovascular Disease (2006), Overweight in Children and Adolescents (2005), Clinical Implications of Obesity (2004), Cardiovascular Health Promotion in the Schools (2004), Clinical Management of Metabolic Syndrome (2004), and Obesity, Insulin Resistance, Diabetes and Cardiovascular Risk in Children (2003).