Heart Disease and Stroke Statistics - 2011 Update
Each year, the American Heart Association (AHA), in conjunction with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the National Institutes of Health, and other government agencies, brings together the most up-to-date statistics on heart disease, stroke, other vascular diseases, and their risk factors and presents them in its Heart Disease and Stroke Statistical Update.
The Statistical Update is a valuable resource for researchers, clinicians, healthcare policy makers, media professionals, the lay public, and many others who seek the best national data available on disease morbidity and mortality and the risks, quality of care, medical procedures and operations, and costs associated with the management of these diseases in a single document. Indeed, since 1999, the Statistical Update has been cited more than 8700 times in the literature (including citations of all annual versions). In 2009 alone, the various Statistical Updates were cited ≈1600 times (data from ISI Web of Science).
In recent years, the Statistical Update has undergone some major changes with the addition of new chapters and major updates across multiple areas. For this year’s edition, the Statistics Committee, which produces the document for the AHA, updated all of the current chapters with the most recent nationally representative data and inclusion of relevant articles from the literature over the past year and added a new chapter detailing how family history and genetics play a role in cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk.
Also, the 2011 Statistical Update is a major source for monitoring both cardiovascular health and disease in the population, with a focus on progress toward achievement of the AHA’s 2020 Impact Goals. Below are a few highlights from this year’s Update.
Death Rates From CVD Have Declined, Yet the Burden of Disease Remains High
The 2007 overall death rate from CVD (International Classification of Diseases 10, I00–I99) was 251.2 per 100 000. The rates were 294.0 per 100 000 for white males, 405.9 per 100 000 for black males, 205.7 per 100 000 for white females, and 286.1 per 100 000 for black females. From 1997 to 2007, the death rate from CVD declined 27.8%. Mortality data for 2007 show that CVD (I00–I99; Q20–Q28) accounted for 33.6% (813 804) of all 2 243 712 deaths in 2007, or 1 of every 2.9 deaths in the United States.
On the basis of 2007 mortality rate data, more than 2200 Americans die of CVD each day, an average of 1 death every 39 seconds. More than 150 000 Americans killed by CVD (I00–I99) in 2007 were <65 years of age. In 2007, nearly 33% of deaths due to CVD occurred before the age of 75 years, which is well before the average life expectancy of 77.9 years.
Coronary heart disease caused ≈1 of every 6 deaths in the United States in 2007. Coronary heart disease mortality in 2007 was 406 351. Each year, an estimated 785 000 Americans will have a new coronary attack, and ≈470 000 will have a recurrent attack. It is estimated that an additional 195 000 silent first myocardial infarctions occur each year. Approximately every 25 seconds, an American will have a coronary event, and approximately every minute, someone will die of one.
Cardiovascular Disease and Stroke: Startling Statistics
Highlighted findings from the 2009 Heart Disease and Stroke Statistics report (Lloyd-Jones et al. 2009) reveal these disquieting facts:
Approximately 2,400 Americans die of CVD each day. This means that on average there is one death every 37 seconds from CVD.
More than 150,000 Americans killed by CVD in 2005 were under 65 years of age, which is far below the average life expectancy of 77.9 years.
One in every 5 deaths in the United States in 2005 was from coronary heart disease (CHD, also referred to as atherosclerotic heart disease), which is the final result of the accumulation of atherosclerotic plaque within the walls of the coronary arteries.
On average, someone in the United States has a stroke every 40 seconds. That represents about 1 in every 18 U.S. deaths.
Despite health recommendations that all adult Americans complete 30 minutes of somewhat hard physical activity on most days of the week, 62% of adults over 18 years of age lead completely sedentary lifestyles.
More than 12% of preschool children 2–5 years of age were overweight in 2005 (as measured by body mass index [BMI]-weight in kilograms divided by height in meters squared), placing them at or above the 95th percentile in body weight among children their age.
An estimated 80 million American adults (approximately 1 in 3) have one or more types of CVD. These diseases include high blood pressure, coronary heart disease, myocardial infarction (heart attack), angina pectoris (chest pain), heart failure (inability of the heart to pump enough blood to sustain normal bodily functions), stroke and congenital (present at birth but not necessarily hereditary) cardiovascular defects.
In 2005, the leading causes of death in women ≥ 65 years of age were (1) diseases of the heart, (2) cancer, (3) stroke and (4) chronic lower respiratory disease (CLRD, such as emphysema and chronic bronchitis). In older men, they were (1) heart disease, (2) cancer, (3) CLRD and (4) stroke (see Figure 1 for comparison of CVD and cancer by age in the U.S.).
Lloyd-Jones et al. (2010) note that data clearly show the prevalence of hypertension and type 2 diabetes in pediatric populations, which will no doubt lead to CVD at much younger ages for men and women in the future. Additionally, Lloyd-Jones et al. (2009) state that the underlying causes of the majority of CVD events are present and go undetected for decades before the occurrence of a “clinical event,” such as a nonfatal myocardial infarction or a disabling stroke.
Each year, ≈795 000 people experience a new or recurrent stroke. Approximately 610 000 of these are first attacks, and 185 000 are recurrent attacks. Mortality data from 2007 indicate that stroke accounted for ≈1 of every 18 deaths in the United States. On average, every 40 seconds, someone in the United States has a stroke. From 1997 to 2007, the stroke death rate fell 44.8%, and the actual number of stroke deaths declined 14.7%.
In 2007, 1 in 9 death certificates (277 193 deaths) in the United States mentioned heart failure.