Heart Disease Facts
- Nearly 2,400 Americans die of cardiovascular disease (CVD) each day, an average of 1 death every 36 seconds.
- CVD claims more lives every year than cancer, chronic lower respiratory diseases, accidents and diabetes mellitus combined.
- Mortality data show that CVD as the underlying cause of death accounted for 36.3% of all 2,398,000 deaths in 2004, or 1 of every 2.8 deaths in the United States.
- More than 147,000 Americans killed by CVD in 2004 were under age 65.
- Data from the Framingham Heart Study indicate that the lifetime risk for CVD is 2 in 3 for men and more than 1 in 2 for women at age 40.
- In 2004, an estimated 6,363,000 inpatient cardiovascular operations and procedures were performed in the United States; 3.2 million were performed on males and 3.1 million were performed on females.
- This year, an estimated 700,000 Americans will have a new coronary attack and about 500,000 will have a recurrent attack.
- An estimate 79,400,000 American adults (1 in 3) have 1 or more types of CVD.
- The estimated direct and indirect cost of CVD for 2007 is $431.8 billion.
Above content provided by The American Heart Association in partnership with Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. For advice about your medical care, consult your doctor.
Posted January 2009
