Know the Facts About Heart Disease
What is heart disease?
Heart disease is the leading cause of death in the United States. More than 600,000 Americans die of heart disease each year. That’s one in every four deaths in this country.1 The term “heart disease” refers to several types of heart conditions. The most common type is coronary artery disease, which can cause heart attack. Other kinds of heart disease may involve the valves in the heart, or the heart may not pump well and cause heart failure. Some people are born with heart disease. Source: Center For Disease Control
Men and Heart Disease
Heart disease is the leading cause of death for men in the United States.
Women and Heart Disease
Not just a man’s disease, almost as many women as men die each year of heart disease in the United States.
This map shows death rates from heart disease in men in the United States. The darker red indicates a higher death rate. Source: Center For Disease Control
This map shows death rates from heart disease in women in the United States. The darker red indicates a higher death rate. Source: Center For Disease Control
How does heart disease affect men?
Heart disease is the leading cause of death for men in the United States, killing 347,879 men in 2017—that’s about 1 in every 4 male deaths.
Heart disease is the leading cause of death for men of most racial and ethnic groups in the United States, including African Americans, American Indians or Alaska Natives, Hispanics, and whites. For Asian American or Pacific Islander men, heart disease is second only to cancer.
About 1 in 13 (7.7%) white men and 1 in 14 (7.1%) black men have coronary heart disease. About 1 in 17 (5.9%) Hispanic men have coronary heart disease.
Half of the men who die suddenly of coronary heart disease had no previous symptoms. Even if you have no symptoms, you may still be at risk for heart disease.
How does heart disease affect women?
Despite increases in awareness over the past decades, only about half (56%) of women recognize that heart disease is their number 1 killer.
Heart disease is the leading cause of death for women in the United States, killing 299,578 women in 2017—or about 1 in every 5 female deaths.
Heart disease is the leading cause of death for African American and white women in the United States. Among American Indian and Alaska Native women, heart disease and cancer cause roughly the same number of deaths each year. For Hispanic and Asian or Pacific Islander women, heart disease is second only to cancer as a cause of death.
About 1 in 16 women age 20 and older (6.2%) have coronary heart disease, the most common type of heart disease:
About 1 in 16 white women (6.1%), black women (6.5%), and Hispanic women (6%)
About 1 in 30 Asian women (3.2%)
Heart Disease Facts
Heart disease is the leading cause of death for both men and women. More than half of the deaths due to heart disease in 2015 were in men.
About 630,000 Americans die from heart disease each year—that’s 1 in every 4 deaths.
Coronary heart disease is the most common type of heart disease, killing about 366,000 people in 2015.
In the United States, someone has a heart attack every 40 seconds. Each minute, more than one person in the United States dies from a heart disease-related event
Heart disease is the leading cause of death for people of most racial/ethnic groups in the United States, including African Americans, Hispanics, and whites. For Asian Americans or Pacific Islanders and American Indians or Alaska Natives, heart disease is second only to cancer.
Heart disease costs the United States about $200 billion each year. This total includes the cost of health care services, medications, and lost productivity.
Risk Factors
High blood pressure, high LDL cholesterol, and smoking are key heart disease risk factors for heart disease. About half of Americans (49%) have at least one of these three risk factors.
Several other medical conditions and lifestyle choices can also put people at a higher risk for heart disease, including:
Diabetes
Overweight and obesity
Poor diet
Physical inactivity
Excessive alcohol use
How can I reduce my risk of heart disease?
To lower your chances of getting heart disease, it’s important to do the following:
Know your blood pressure. Having uncontrolled blood pressure can lead to heart disease. High blood pressure has no symptoms, so it’s important to have your blood pressure checked regularly. Learn more about high blood pressure.
Talk to your doctor or health care team about whether you should be tested for diabetes. Having uncontrolled diabetes raises your risk of heart disease. Learn more about diabetes.
Quit smoking. If you don’t smoke, don’t start. If you do smoke, learn ways to quit.
Discuss checking your blood cholesterol and triglycerides with your doctor. Learn more about cholesterol.
Make healthy food choices - being overweight or obese raises your risk of heart disease. Learn more about overweight and obesity.
Limit how much alcohol you drink to one drink a day. Learn more about alcohol
Manage stress levels by finding healthy ways to cope with stress. Learn more about coping with stress.
Source: Center For Disease Control
Statistics Specific to Pediatrics
Congenital heart defects are America’s and every country’s #1 birth defect. Nearly one of every 100 babies is born with a CHD. (source: childrensheartfoundation.org)
Each year approximately 40,000 babies are born in the United States with a congenital heart defect. Thousands of them will not reach their first birthday and thousands more die before they reach adulthood.
Each year over 1,000,000 babies are born worldwide with a congenital heart defect. 100,000 of them will not live to see their first birthday and thousands more die before they reach adulthood.
Statistics Specific to Cardiomyopathy
Cardiomyopathy often goes undiagnosed, so the numbers can vary. As many as 1 of 500 adults may have this condition.
It is estimated that 750,000 people in the United States have dilated cardiomyopathy; roughly half of these cases are familial.
Dilated cardiomyopathy occurs in about 3 times as many men as women and 3 times as many blacks as whites.
About 5 to 8 of every 100,000 people develop the disorder each year.