On This Page

• Heart Disease Facts
• Online Statistical Resources
• Heart Disease Statistical Reports

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.
  
  

Online Statistical Resources

Interactive Maps

CDC's interactive maps present heart disease and stroke death rates, county–by–county, for the state, selected racial/ethnic group, and gender of your choice. Go to the Interactive State Maps.

National Heart Disease Mortality Maps

National heart disease mortality maps are available for the period 1996–2000 by ethnic group. Each map contains a link below it to view a larger version in PDF format.

• All Groups Aged 35 Years and Older, by County
• American Indians and Alaska Natives Aged 35 Years and Older, by County
• Asians and Pacific Islanders Aged 35 Years and Older, by County
• Blacks Aged 35 Years and Older, by County
• Hispanics Aged 35 Years and Older, by County
• Whites Aged 35 Years and Older, by County

Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System

Estimates of the prevalence of self–reported risk factors for heart disease by state can be computed online from CDC's state–based Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System.

FASTATS

The National Center for Health Statistics provides CDC's statistics on a number of health topics from its national databases. See http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/fastats/.

Download Software for Epidemiologic Analysis

Epi Info is software that helps public health professionals develop a questionnaire or form, customize the data entry process, and enter and analyze data. Go to the Epi Info Web site.

Global Cardiovascular Infobase

An interactive Web site that features country profiles of heart diseases and stroke in the world. Go to Global Cardiovascular Infobase.*

Heart Disease Statistical Reports

One or more of the following files are available in Portable Document Format (PDF). Learn more about PDFs.

From the CDC

• Health, United States, 2005 with Chartbook on Trends in the Health of Americans with Special Feature on Adults 55–64 Years

• Also see our other various Resources about heart disease.

From the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute

• Morbidity and Mortality Chartbook

From the American Heart Association

• Heart Disease and Stroke Statistics Update*

• Biostatistical Fact Sheets*

• Heart and Stroke Facts (PDF 533K)*

References

Please see the following Web sites which have additional glossaries about medical conditions:

1. CDC. Deaths: Leading Causes for 2002. National Vital Statistics Reports 2005;53(17).
2. CDC. Health, United States, 2005 With Chartbook on Trends in the Health of Americans Hyattsville, Maryland: National Center for Health Statistics;2005.
3. 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.
4. 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.
5. 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.
6. Heart Disease and Stroke Statistics—2006 Update. American Heart Association; 2005.
7. Mackay J, Mensah GA. The Atlas of Heart Disease and Stroke. Geneva: World Health Organization. 2004.
8. 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.
9. 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.

* Links to non-Federal organizations are provided solely as a service to our users. Links do not constitute an endorsement of any organization by CDC or the Federal Government, and none should be inferred. The CDC is not responsible for the content of the individual organization Web pages found at this link.