Heart Disease Statistics and Death Rates in the US

Heart disease is today the leading cause of death for men, women, and most racial or ethnic groups in the United States. The term “heart disease” encompasses a wide range of conditions such as coronary artery disease, heart failure, heart valve disease, cardiac arrhythmia, congenital heart defects, and cardiomyopathies.

Coronary Artery Disease

Coronary artery disease (CAD), also known as coronary heart disease, occurs when the flow of blood to the heart is reduced due to the buildup of fatty plaques in blood vessels (atherosclerosis). CAD is the most common form of heart disease in the United States, as well as the most common cause of heart attacks.

These statistics illustrate how common and deadly CAD is:

• CAD is the leading cause of death from cardiovascular disease, accounting for roughly 80% of all cardiovascular deaths.
• In 2022, 371,506 deaths in the United States were directly attributed to CAD.
• Men are at greater risk of CAD than women. The lifetime risk in men with two or more risk factors for heart disease is around 37%, while the lifetime risk in females is closer to 18%.
• CAD causes around 605,000 new heart attacks and 200,000 repeat heart attacks each year. Approximately every 40 seconds, someone in the U.S. has a heart attack.
• One in five heart attacks is a “silent heart attack” with no notable symptoms.
• The average age for a first heart attack in males is 65.6 years and 72 years for females.
• Around 23% of Black people in the United States die from CAD, far more than Asians (19%), Whites (18%), or Hispanics (12%).
• From 2012 to 2022, the annual death rate attributed to CAD declined by 16.9%, although the number of deaths stayed the same.
• The highest burden of CAD is centered around the southern United States, with Oklahoma, Mississippi, Alabama, Arkansas, Louisiana, and Tennessee having the highest rates.

Congestive Heart Failure

Congestive heart failure (CHF), also known simply as heart failure, is a condition in which the heart progressively becomes less able to pump enough blood to meet the body’s needs. There are many possible causes of heart failure, ranging from CAD and hypertension (high blood pressure) to diabetes and obesity.

Among the current heart failure statistics in the U.S.:

• It is estimated that nearly 6.7 million people over the age of 20 have heart failure.
• Around 250,000 new cases of heart failure are diagnosed each year.
• Females are at a slightly higher risk of heart failure than males, although males are at a higher risk of death from heart failure.
• Heart failure directly accounts for about 8.5% of all heart disease deaths in the United States.
• Black people have up to a 1.5-fold greater risk of heart failure than White people.
• Among Black people, hypertension (high blood pressure) is the leading cause of heart failure, while obesity is the leading cause in White people.
• The number of heart failure cases is expected to increase to 8.5 million by 2030.

Heart Valve Disease

Heart valve disease, also known as valvular heart disease, involves the failure or dysfunction of one of the four valves of the heart. It is largely the result of aging, but can also occur with congenital (inborn) abnormalities or infections like rheumatic fever.

Left untreated, advanced heart valve disease can cause heart failure, stroke, blood clots, or death from cardiac arrest.

According to current statistics:

• More than five million people in the U.S. are diagnosed with heart valve disease each year.
• The risk increases with age, with 13% of people aged 80 years and over affected by some form of heart valve disease.
• More than 25,000 deaths in the United States each year are due to heart valve disease.
• The majority of deaths involve the aortic and mitral valves on the left side of the heart, with 61% of deaths due to aortic valve disease and 15% of deaths due to mitral valve disease.
• In 2022, 38,620 deaths in the United States were the result of aortic valve disease.
• The rate of aortic valve disease is greater among White and Hispanic people (3.5% and 3.7%, respectively) than Black people (1.8%).
• From 2010 to 2018, the rate of aortic valve disease increased by around 25%.

Cardiac Arrhythmias

Cardiac arrhythmias describe abnormal heart rhythms. This ranges from possibly transient conditions like bradycardia (slowed heartbeats) and tachycardia (rapid heartbeats) to potentially dangerous ones like ventricular fibrillation (VFib) and atrial fibrillation (AFib) in which the chambers of the heart beat chaotically out of control.

Deaths from cardiac arrhythmia can occur when the heart suddenly stops beating, known as sudden cardiac arrest. Cardiac arrhythmia is also a major cause of stroke.

According to current statistics in the U.S.:

• Around 1% of people under 55 years have cardiac arrhythmia, increasing to around 5% after age 65.
• Atrial fibrillation is the most common type of arrhythmia, affecting at least 2.3 million people in the U.S.
• Atrial fibrillation can increase the risk of stroke by anywhere from fivefold to 20-fold.
• Ventricular arrhythmias account for 75% to 80% of cases of sudden cardiac death. In 2022, 417,957 sudden cardiac deaths were reported in the U.S.
• The majority of cardiac arrests (71%) result in death before a person can reach the hospital.
• Only around 10% of people who experience cardiac arrest survive to hospital discharge.

Congenital Heart Defects

Congenital heart diseases are those that you are born with, such as defects in the heart valves or blood vessels. They may cause heart problems at birth or may only become symptomatic later in life.

Among some of the facts about congenital heart disease in the U.S.:

• Congenital heart disease is the most common birth defect, affecting one in 100 live births. 
• Congenital heart defects affect around 1% of―or about 40,000―births per year.
• The most common type of heart defect is a ventricular septal defect, in which there is a hole between the lower chambers of the heart.
• Around one in four cases of congenital heart disease are critical enough to require surgery within the first year of life.
• Around one million children and 1.4 million adults are currently living with a congenital heart defect in the U.S.
• Around 4.2% of all deaths in newborns are due to a congenital heart defect.
• Nearly half (48%) of the deaths from congenital heart disease occur during the first year of life.
• African American babies are 1.4 times more likely and Hispanic babies are 1.7 times more likely to die in the first year of life due to congenital heart disease than White babies.
• One-year survival times for newborns with a critical heart defect improved from 67% in the 1990s to 83% by 2005.
• Overall, around 81% of babies born with a heart defect survive to at least 35 years of age. Some can live well into their 60s or later.

Cardiomyopathies

Cardiomyopathies are a group of diseases affecting the heart muscle. These include hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (in which the heart muscle thickens), dilated cardiomyopathy (in which the heart becomes enlarged), restrictive cardiomyopathy (in which the heart muscle becomes rigid), and stress cardiomyopathy (also known as “broken heart syndrome”).

There are many possible causes of cardiomyopathy, with symptoms typically appearing with the onset of heart failure. People with cardiomyopathy are also at an increased risk of sudden cardiac arrest.

According to current statistics:

• Around 1.1 million people in the United States have some form of cardiomyopathy.
• In 2021, 14,770 people were hospitalized with cardiomyopathy as the principal diagnosis.
• People with cardiomyopathies accounted for 51% of all heart transplants, 33% of defibrillator implantations, and 11.3% of hospitalizations for heart failure.
• Cardiomyopathies today account for 23% of all heart failures, 5% of cardiac arrests, 2% of strokes, and 3% of in-hospital deaths.
• Hospitalization for cardiomyopathy is more common with older age, with a median age of 71.

Other Cardiovascular Diseases

Cardiovascular disease is a broad category of diseases involving the heart and circulatory system. This not only includes heart disease but also peripheral artery disease (involving arteries outside of the heart and brain) and cerebrovascular disease (associated with strokes).

From 2020 to 2021, the direct and indirect healthcare costs of cardiovascular disease in the U.S. were $417.9 billion. Today, cardiovascular disease accounts for 11% of all healthcare costs, second only to musculoskeletal diseases.

Expanding upon those statistics:

• Around 122 million adults have cardiovascular disease (or roughly half of the adult U.S. population). By 2035, that number is expected to balloon to 130 million.
• Over 900,000 deaths each year are attributed to cardiovascular disease. That translates to around 2,400 deaths each day or one death every 33 seconds.
• Cardiovascular diseases consistently rank as the leading cause of death in the United States, exceeding all forms of cancer.
• Around 3% of adults in the United States will get a stroke at some point in their lives.
• Around 2.2 million strokes occur in the U.S. every year, or roughly one every 40 seconds.
• Strokes are the fourth leading cause of death in the United States. Today, one in six cardiovascular deaths (17.5%) is due to stroke.
• In 2023, around 163,000 people died of stroke, translating to one death every three seconds.
• While strokes tend to affect older adults, 38% of hospitalizations are among people under 65.
• Strokes occur at nearly double the rate among Black people as White people.
• Peripheral artery disease affects over 12 million people in the U.S., or roughly 7% of the adult population
• While fewer than 3% of cardiovascular deaths are caused by peripheral artery disease, around 20% of affected individuals will experience a heart attack or stroke.
• Many deaths from peripheral artery disease are associated with the amputation of a leg, with 52% and 80% dying within five years as a result of a major amputation.