Heart Disease in the United States: By the Numbers
Americans Touched by Heart Disease
According to statistics compiled by the American Heart Association:
- Heart-related deaths in America have been declining, but … Heart-related deaths have declined over the past several decades (see chart), but heart disease continues to be the number of cause of death in America for both men and women.
- Cardiovascular disease takes a heavy toll. Each year, more than 870,000 (2,400 a day) Americans die from heart attack and stroke. That’s out of an estimated 80 million who have one or more types of heart disease.
- In 2005, 322,841 men died from heart disease, the leading cause of death for men in the United States.
- Women account for just over half of the total heart disease deaths each year, although many women continue to think of heart disease as a man’s disease.
- Coronary artery disease is the leading-cause of death among American women. Since 1984, the number of women who die from cardiovascular disease has exceeded that of men. Further, women who live with cardiovascular disease may have a worse quality of life than men.
- Heart attack – which occurs when blood flow to the heart muscle is blocked – strikes nearly a million people in the U.S. each year, and stroke affects some 780,000.
- This year, more than 920,000 Americans will have a heart attack.
- Heart disease and stroke account for more than 35 percent of all deaths in the U.S. each year.
- Currently about 7.9 million Americans are alive who have had a heart attack.
- Stroke is the third leading cause of death. Over 150,000 of the more than 780,000 people who suffer a stroke (new or recurrent), die each year.
- About six in 10 deaths from stroke occur in women.
- An estimated 5.7 million Americans are stroke survivors.
- Nearly 1 million people are disabled from strokes.
- If you have chest pain (angina), you’re one of millions. About 8.9 million Americans have chest pain (angina) caused by reduced blood flow to the heart muscle, which results when the coronary arteries become blocked with a build-up of plaque.
- If you are told by your doctor you have a heart valve problem, you won’t be alone. An estimated 5 million Americans will learn that have “valvular heart disease” this year.
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Americans at Risk for Cardiovasular Disease
Do you have one or more cardiovascular disease risk factors? If so, you may be interested in how many other Americans have the same risk factor(s).
- If you have high blood pressure, you’re among some 72 million American adults age 20 or older with higher than normal blood pressure (Estimate based on data from the National Health and Nutrition Examinations Survey 1999 – 2004).
- If you smoke, you’re one of about 46 Americans who do: 25.1 million are men and 20.9 million are women.
- If you have a high cholesterol reading of 240 mg/dL or higher, you’re among some 36.6 million adults who also have this major risk factor.
- If you are overweight, you are among the 66 percent of Americans age 20 and older who are overweight or obese.
- If you are not physically active (walking or doing other moderate activities for at least 30 minutes five days a week or more vigorous workouts at least 20 minutes three times a week), you are among the nearly 70 percent of Americans who need to get more exercise to reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease.
- If you have diabetes, you are at higher risk of death from heart or blood vessel disease. It is estimated that the death of at least 65 percent of Americans with diabetes is due to cardiovascular diseases.
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Number of Medical Procedures to Treat Heart Disease
According to “Heart Disease and Stroke Statistics – 2008 Update” from the American Heart Association, in 2005 in the U.S., there were approximately:
- 7 million inpatient cardiovascular operations and procedures.
- 1.3 million cardiac catheterizations.
- 469,000 coronary bypass surgeries (performed on 261,000 patients).
- 1.3 million percutaneous coronary interventions, such as angioplasty (about half performed on people 65 and older and about 69 percent performed on men).
- In 2006, 2,192 heart transplantations were performed.
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Cost of Cardiovascular Disease and Stroke
In 2008, the total cost of cardiovascular diseases (coronary heart disease, hypertensive disease, heart failure and stroke) in the U.S. is estimated at $448.5 billion. (This includes direct costs, such as the costs of doctors, hospital services, medications, etc., and indirect costs, such as lost productivity).
In comparison, the estimated economic cost of cancer in 2007 was $219 billion.
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Americans with Congenital Heart Defects
- Structural heart defects resulting from the abnormal formation of the heart or major blood vessels before birth are expected to occur in nine of every 1,000 babies born annually - see section on Pediatric Heart Conditions. (Surgery of Congenital Heart Disease: Pediatric Cardiac Care Consortium 1984-1995. Armonk, NY: Futura Publishing Co; 1998:20.)
- An estimated 35,000 babies are born with a heart defect each year.
- The number of people living in the U.S. as of 2002 estimated to have a congenital heart defect ranged from 650,000 to 1.3 million. (Am Heart J. 2004;147:425-439)
- When babies die of a birth defect, a defect of the heart is the most common cause. Heart defects account for more than 30 percent of congenital defects that cause death.
- Death rates (the number of deaths per 100,000 people within a specified period) from congenital heart defects declined by more than 30 percent from 1994 to 2004. The total number of deaths declined by over 25 percent.
- Among congenital heart defects, the most common are ventricular septal defects (VSDs) (a hole in the wall that separates the heart’s two lower chambers). According to some studies, as many as five percent of newborns (200,000 per year) have VSDs. Almost all close without treatment. (J Am Coll Cardiol. 1995;26:1545-1548; Arch Dis Child Fetal Neonatal Ed. 1999; 81:F61-F63) However the need to close VSDs accounts for 14 to 16 percent of defects that require an invasive procedure during the first year of life.
- Among individuals who have congenital heart defects:
- Nine to 14 percent have tetralogy of Fallot
- Ten to 11 percent have transposition of the great arteries
- Four to 10 percent have atrioventricular septal defects
- Eight to 11 percent have coarctation of the aorta
- Four to eight percent have hypoplastic left heart syndrome
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For More Information
For more statistics on cardiovascular disease in the U.S., see the American Heart Association’s “Heart Disease and Stroke Statistics: 2008 Update-at-a-Glance.”