I ran across another interesting thing while I was researching disease statistics for Asian countries. In Asian countries, it's considered a shameful and dishonorable thing to die from heart disease, but an honorable thing to suffer a stroke. Why this is escapes me, but the cause of death because of this is more likely to be reported as "stroke" even when it was likely a heart attack instead to protect the honor of the deceased. Because family honor is so important in these cultures, even doctors are willing to fudge the cause of death in the interest of family honor.
All this has caused me to question whether or not the incidence of heart disease in these cultures is actually higher than reported. Hmmmm....