• Heart disease is the leading cause of death for both men and women. (CDC)
• About 600,000 Americans die from heart disease each year – that’s 1 in every 4 deaths. (CDC)
• Coronary heart disease is the most common type of heart disease, killing more than 385,000 people annually. (CDC)
• 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.
• Cardiovascular diseases were the cause of nearly 33% of all U.S. deaths and an underlying or contributing cause for about 55% of deaths in 2008. (Heart.org)
• More than 2,200 people die of cardiovascular disease each day – one death every 39 seconds. (Heart.org)

Risk Factors:

• Coronary heart disease alone costs the United States $108.9 billion each year. This total includes the cost of healthcare services, medications and lost productivity. (CDC)
• High blood pressure, high LDL cholesterol and smoking are key heart disease risk factors for heart disease. About half of Americans have at least one of these risk factors.  (CDC)
• 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 and excessive alcohol use. (CDC)
• More than 40% of the U.S. adult population is projected to have some form of cardiovascular disease by 2030, with direct and indirect costs exceeding $1 trillion annually by the year 2030. (Heart.org)
• The direct costs of stroke will escalate by 238% between 2010 and 2030. Prevalence of stroke is expected to increase by 25% over this time period. (Heart.org)
• Eliminating deaths from heart disease would generate about $48 trillion in economic value from increased life expectancy. (Heart.org)

Recommendations:

• Avoiding key risk factors and receiving early diagnosis and correct treatment are essential to combating heart disease and stroke. Not smoking, maintaining a healthy weight, and controlling blood sugar, blood pressure and cholesterol may add 10 years of life. (Heart.org)

Women:

• Commonality:
• An estimated 42 million American women live with cardiovascular disease. (Womenshealth.gov)
• More than 8 million women have a history of heart attack and/or angina. (WomensHealth.gov)
• Five and a half million women will suffer angina. (WomensHealth.org)
• Fatality:
• Heart disease is the leading cause of death of American women. (WomensHealth.org)
• 35.3% of deaths in American women over the age of 20, or more than 432,000, are caused by cardiovascular disease each year. (WomensHealth.org)
• More than 200,000 women die each year of heart attacks. (WomensHealth.org)
• More than 159,000 women die each year of congestive heart failure, accounting for 56.3% of all heart failure deaths. (WomensHealth.org)
• Risk:
• Cigarette smoking results in a 2-3 times increased risk of dying from heart disease. (WomensHealth.org)
• 48% of adult women have a total cholesterol of at least 200 mg/dl. (WomensHealth.org)
• 50% of Caucasian women, 64% of African-American women, 60% of Hispanic women and 53% of Asian/Pacific Islander women are sedentary and get no physical activity. (WomensHealth.org)
• 58% of Caucasian women, 80% of African-American women and 74% of Hispanic-American women are overweight or obese. (WomensHealth.org)
• Women with diabetes are 2.5 times more likely to have a heart attack. (WomensHealth.org)
• Who it affects:
• More women than men die of heart disease each year. (WomensHealth.org)
• 12-25% of women and 7-22% of men heart attack survivors will be diagnosed with heart failure within five years. (WomensHealth.org)
• 23% of women and 18% of men will die within one year of a first recognized heart attack; 22-32% of women and 15-27% of men heart attack survivors will die within five years. (WomensHealth.org)
• Women are less likely than men to receive appropriate treatment after a heart attack. (WomensHealth.org)
• Women comprise only 27% of participants in all heart-related research studies. (WomensHealth.org)

Men:

Fatality

• Heart disease is the leading cause of death for men in the United States, killing 307,225 men in 2009—that’s 1 in every 4 male deaths.
• Heart disease is the leading cause of death for men of most racial/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 8.5% of all white men, 7.9% of black men, and 6.3% of Mexican American men have coronary heart disease.
• Half of the men who die suddenly of coronary heart disease have no previous symptoms. Even if you have no symptoms, you may still be at risk for heart disease.
• Between 70% and 89% of sudden cardiac events occur in men.
  
  

Risk Factors

• 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