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Heart Disease Facts and Statistics
Heart Disease Facts
- Heart disease is the leading cause of death for both women and men
in the United States.
- In 2002, 696,947 people died of heart disease (51% of them women).
This was 29% of all U.S. deaths. The age-adjusted death rate was 241 per
100,000 population.1
- Heart disease is the leading cause of death for American Indians and
Alaska Natives, blacks, Hispanics, and whites. For Asians and Pacific
Islanders, cancer is the
leading cause of death (accounting for
26.1% of all deaths), heart disease is a close second (26.0%).1
- Heart disease crude death rates per 100,000 population for the five
largest U.S. racial/ethnic groups are as follows: Hispanics, 72; Asians
and Pacific Islanders, 78; American Indians, 80; blacks, 206; and
whites, 259.1
- In 2002, age-adjusted death rates for diseases of the heart were 30%
higher among African Americans than among whites.2 Age-adjusted
rates are used to compare populations with differing age distributions.
- By state, age-adjusted death rates per 100,000 for diseases of the
heart ranged from 165 (Minnesota) to 327 (Mississippi) in 2002.3
- Coronary heart disease is the principal type of heart
disease. There were 494,392 people that died from coronary heart disease in 2002. That
is about 71% of all heart disease deaths.4
- It is estimated that about 47% of cardiac deaths occur before
emergency services or transport to a hospital.5
- In 2006, heart disease is projected to cost more than $258 billion,
including health care services, medications, and lost productivity.6
- Worldwide, coronary heart disease kills more than 7 million people
each year.7
- Risk factors for heart disease among adults (for years 1999–2002
unless noted):2
Percentage of persons aged 20 years and older with hypertension or taking
hypertension medications: 30.2% Percentage of persons aged 20 years and older with high blood cholesterol:
17.3% Percentage of persons aged 20 years and older with physician-diagnosed
diabetes: 6.5%Percentage of persons aged 20 years and older who are obese: 30.5% Percentage of adults aged 18
years and older who are current cigarette smokers
(2003): 21.6% Percentage of adults aged 18 years and older who engage in no
leisure-time physical activity (2003): 37.6%
- In 2003, approximately 37% of adults reported having two or more of
six risk factors for heart disease and stroke (high blood pressure, high
cholesterol, diabetes, current smoking, physical inactivity, and
obesity).8
- Timely access to emergency cardiac care and survival is partly
dependent on early recognition of heart attack symptoms and immediate
action by calling emergency services. In a 2001 survey, most persons
(95%) recognized chest pain as a heart attack symptom, but only 11%
correctly classified all symptoms and knew to call 9–1–1 when someone
was having a heart attack.9
- Studies among people with heart disease have shown that lowering
high blood cholesterol and high blood pressure can reduce the risk of
dying of heart disease, having a nonfatal heart attack, and needing
heart bypass surgery or angioplasty.
- Studies among people without heart disease have shown that lowering
high blood cholesterol and high blood pressure can reduce the risk of
developing heart disease.
More Information
See our heart disease
fact sheet.
References
- CDC. Deaths: Leading Causes for 2002. National Vital Statistics
Reports 2005;53(17).
- CDC. Health, United States,
2005 With Chartbook on Trends in the Health of Americans
Hyattsville, Maryland: National Center for Health Statistics;2005.
- Kochanek KD, Murphy SL, Anderson RN, Scott C. Deaths: Final data
for 2002. National vital statistics reports; vol 53 no 5.
Hyattsville, Maryland: National Center for Health Statistics;2004.
- Kochanek KD, Murphy SL, Anderson RN, Scott C. Deaths: Final data
for 2002. National vital statistics reports; vol 53 no 5.
Hyattsville, Maryland: National Center for Health Statistics;2004.
- Zheng ZJ, Croft JB, Giles WH, Ayala C, Greenlund K, Keenan NL,
Neff L, Wattigney WA, Mensah GA. State specific mortality from
sudden cardiac death: United States, 1999. MMWR. 51:123–126, 2002.
- Heart Disease and Stroke Statistics—2006 Update. American Heart
Association; 2005.
- Mackay J, Mensah GA. The Atlas of Heart Disease and Stroke.
Geneva: World Health Organization. 2004.
- Hayes DK, Greenlund KJ, Denny CH, Keenan NL, Croft JB.
Disparities in multiple risk factors for heart disease and stroke,
2003. MMWR. 2005;54: 113–116.
- Greenlund KJ, Keenan NL, Giles WH, Zheng ZJ, Neff LJ, Croft JB,
Mensah GA. Public recognition of major signs and symptoms of heart
attack: seventeen states and the U.S. Virgin Islands, 2001. American
Heart Journal. 2004;147:1010–6.
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Page last reviewed: November 15, 2007
Page last modified: November 15, 2007
Content source: Division for Heart Disease and Stroke Prevention,
National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and
Health Promotion
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