About the Program

	Factors which put people at increased risk for heart disease and stroke include: • High Blood Pressure • High Blood Cholesterol • Tobacco Use • Physical Inactivity • Dietary Factors • Overweight / obesity • Diabetes

Cardiovascular diseases (CVDs), principally heart disease and stroke, are among the nation's leading killers for both men and women among all racial and ethnic groups.

• More than 70 million Americans have some form of CVD, including high blood pressure, coronary heart disease, stroke, congestive heart failure, and other conditions. This is about 1 in 3 adults.

• It is estimated that 1.2 million Americans have a heart attack each year.
   
• About 700,000 strokes occur each year among Americans.

• CVD will cost the nation an estimated $403 billion in 2006, including health expenditures and lost productivity.

Source: American Heart Association, Heart Disease and Stroke Statistics – 2006 Update. Dallas: AHA, 2005.

Until fiscal year 1998, no federal funding had been directed to states to specifically target heart disease and stroke for many years. Most state funds came through the general Preventive Health and Health Services Block Grant. In 1998, CDC received funding for states to develop comprehensive heart disease and stroke prevention programs. Currently, 32 states and the District of Columbia receive this funding.

• Click HERE to see a brief history of cardiovascular health activities within the CDC.
   
• CDC Announces the new Division for Heart Disease and Stroke Prevention (DHDSP).  See the press release.

CDC's heart disease and stroke prevention activities are carried out within the CDC's DHDSP. Relevant activities are also carried out by the CDC's Division of Adult and Community Health, the Division of Nutrition and Physical Activity, Office on Smoking and Health, Division of Diabetes Translation, the Division of Adolescent and School Health and the Office of Genomics and Disease Prevention. CDC's National Center for Birth Defects and Developmental Disorders addresses related blood conditions, and the National Center for Environmental Health carries out laboratory–based activities relevant to heart disease and stroke.

Page last reviewed: November 8, 2007
Page last modified: November 8, 2007

Content source: Division for Heart Disease and Stroke Prevention, National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion