General Heart Disease Facts

People with heart disease are at the highest risk of developing arrhythmias, so reducing heart disease is key to reducing arrhythmias.

• As of 2002, 23.5 million people, or 11.2% of the population, suffers from a type of heart disease.¹
• Heart disease is the leading cause of death in the United States. Over 696,000 people died of heart disease in 2002 — 51% of them were women.²
• In people 65 years and older, heart disease is the leading cause of death. It is the second leading cause of death in 45-to 64-year-olds.³
• About 42% of people who experience a heart attack in a given year will die from it, and about 66% of heart attack patients do not make a complete recovery.⁴
• Heart disease cost the nation $193 billion in 2001.⁵
• Mississippi, Oklahoma, West Virginia, Kentucky, and Alabama have the highest rates of death from diseases of the heart.⁶

Women and Heart Disease⁷

• One in every three women die of heart disease. However, only 20% of women consider heart disease to be their own greatest health risk.
• About three million women have had a heart attack. Two-thirds of American women who have had a heart attack don't make a full recovery.
• Nearly two-thirds of American women who die suddenly of a heart attack had no prior symptoms.

Minorities and Heart Disease

• All ethnicities are impacted by heart disease. Heart disease is the leading cause of death for Native Americans, Alaskan Natives, African Americans, Hispanics, and whites. Although cancer is the leading cause of death for Asians and Pacific Islanders, heart disease is a close second.⁸
• The death rate from heart disease was 31% higher among African Americans than Caucasians in 2001.⁹
• The prevalence of having two or more risk factors for heart disease and stroke (high blood pressure, high cholesterol, diabetes, being a smoker, physically inactive, obesity) was highest among African Americans (48.7%), Native Americans/Alaskan Natives (46.7%) and Hispanics (39.6%) in 1993.¹⁰

¹Lethbridge-Cejku M, Vickerie J. Summary health statistics for US adults: National Health Interview Survey, 2003. National Center for Health Statistics. Vital Health Stat 10 (225). 2005.
²National Center for Health Statistics. Health, United States, 2004. With Chartbook on Trends in the Health of Americans. Hyattsville, Maryland: 2004
³Same as above.
⁴The Burden of Chronic Diseases and Their Risk Factors, National and State Perspectives 2004.
⁵Same as above.
⁶Same as above.
⁷National Center for Health Statistics. Health, United States, 2004. With Chartbook on Trends in the Health of Americans. Hyattsville, Maryland: 2004
⁸The Burden of Chronic Diseases and Their Risk Factors, National and State Perspectives 2004.
⁹The Burden of Chronic Diseases and Their Risk Factors, National and State Perspectives 2004.
¹⁰Racial/Ethnic and Socioeconomic Disparities in Multiple Risk Factors for Heart Disease and Stroke — United States, 2003. MMWR Weekly, February 11, 2005. 54(05);113-117.