An intervention cardiologist at DHR Health said heart disease trends in the Rio Grande Valley are “concerning.”

According to Dr. Fiorella Llanos, heart disease is the number one killer in the United States. For the last 18 months, however, Llanos said she’s noticing an increase in younger people getting the disease. 

Those people are getting more aggressive forms of heart disease, Llanos added. 

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Heart disease is usually the result of genetics, a bad diet and delayed access to health care, Llanos said.

“We usually get patients when the symptoms have gotten so bad, and damage has progressed so much, that they last thing they do is go to the emergency room or hospital,” Llanos said.

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