Fewer People Dying In U.S. From First Heart Attacks

First-time heart attacks in the United States are becoming less severe, and fewer people are dying from them than did in past generations, according to a new study.

The study, published in Tuesday's Circulation: Journal of the American Heart Association, said that the trend is true across racial and gender lines.

The researchers from St. Luke's-Roosevelt Hospital of Columbia University in New York City, were not attributed to people getting to the hospital sooner because that rate remained the same since 1987.

Instead, the researchers say people are controlling their blood pressure and cholesterol more these days, which makes heart attacks less deadly.

Though the news is positive, the decreased mortality rate is only slightly statistically significant. The study looked at data from more than 10,000 first heart attacks that occurred in four separate parts of the country from 1987 to 2002. During that time, the amount of people dying from first-time heart attacks only went down a little more than 5 percent.