Facts regarding Heart Disease

Coronary Heart Disease (CHD)

Prevalence

• An estimated 79,400,000 American adults (one in three) have one or more types of cardiovascular disease (CVD), of whom 37,500,000 are estimated to be age 65 or older. (Total CVD includes diseases in the bullet points below except for congenital CVD.) Except as noted, the estimates were extrapolated to the U.S. population in 2004 from NHANES 1999-2004. Due to overlap, it is not possible to add these conditions to arrive at a total.

• High blood pressure (HBP) - 72,000,000. (Defined as systolic pressure of 140 mm Hg or greater and/or diastolic pressure of 90 mm Hg or greater, taking antihypertensive medication or being told at least twice by a physician or other health professional that you have high blood pressure.)

• Coronary heart disease (CHD) - 15,800,000.

  • Myocardial infarction (MI, or heart attack) - 7,900,000.

  • Angina pectoris (AP, or chest pain) - 8,900,000

• Heart failure (HF) - 5,200,000.

• Stroke - 5,600,000.

• Congenital cardiovascular defects - 650,000 - 1,300,000.

• One in three adult men and women has some form of CVD. (NHANES 1999–2004, NCHS and NHLBI)

• The following prevalence estimates are for people age 18 and older: (NCHS NHIS;Vital Health Stat 10.2006[228])

  • Among whites only, 11.9 percent have heart disease, 6.6 percent have CHD, 21.2 percent have hypertension and 2.5 percent have had a stroke.

  • Among blacks or African Americans only, 9.6 percent have heart disease, 5.2 percent have CHD, 29.2 percent have hypertension and 3.2 percent have had a stroke.

  • Among Hispanics or Latinos, 9.2 percent have heart disease, 6.0 percent have CHD, 19.6 percent have hypertension and 2.8 percent have had a stroke.

  • Among Asians, 6.7 percent have heart disease, 4.2 percent have CHD, 16.9 percent have hypertension and 2.4 percent have had a stroke.

  • Among Native Hawaiians or other Pacific Islanders, 13.8 percent have heart disease, 13.8 percent have CHD, 20.7 percent have hypertension and 8.1 percent have had a stroke.

  • Among American Indians or Alaska Natives, 11.6 percent have heart disease, 7.6 percent have CHD, 25.4 percent have hypertension and 5.1 percent have had a stroke.

Incidence

• Based on the NHLBI’s Framingham Heart Study (FHS) in its 44-year follow-up of participants and the 20-year follow-up of their offspring. (Hurst W. The Heart, Arteries and Veins. 10th ed. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill; 2002)

  • The average annual rates of first major cardiovascular events rise from seven per 1,000 men at ages 35-44 to 68 per 1,000 at ages 85–94. For women, comparable rates occur 10 years later in life. The gap narrows with advancing age.

  • Before age 75, a higher proportion of CVD events due to CHD occur in men than in women, and a higher proportion of events due to congestive heart failure (CHF) occur in women than in men.

• Data from the FHS indicate that the lifetime risk for CVD is two in three for men and more than one in two for women at age 40. (personal communication, Donald Lloyd-Jones, MD)

Mortality

• Mortality data show that CVD (I00-I99) as the underlying cause of death accounted for 36.3 percent of all 2,398,000 deaths in 2004, or one of every 2.8 deaths in the United States. CVD "total mention" mortality (1,408,000 deaths) accounted for about 58 percent of all deaths in 2002. (Minino AM, Heron MP, Smith BL. Preliminary Data for 2004 National Vital Statistics Reports; Vol 54. No 19. Hyattsville, MD: National-Center for Health Statistics, 2006.)