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Heart Disease Still
America's No. 1 Killer, Stroke No. 3
Jan. 5, 2004 –
Cardiovascular disease (CVD) remains American’s No. 1 killer, still
claiming more lives than the rest of major causes of death, according to
the American Heart Association’s
Heart Disease and Stroke Statistics – 2004 Update released on
Jan. 1.
The
2004 Update compiles
statistics for 2001 or the most recent year that data are available.
CVD killed 931,108
Americans in 2001. Other major causes of death in 2001 were cancer,
553,768; accidents, 101,537; Alzheimer’s disease, 53,852; and HIV
14,175. The report also shows that CVD is the No. 3 cause of death for
children under age 15, behind certain conditions originating in the
perinatal period and accidents. Cardiovascular diseases include high
blood pressure, coronary heart disease (heart attack and angina),
congestive heart failure, stroke, and congenital heart defects.
Coronary heart
disease alone is the single largest killer of Americans. The disease
continues to devastate women as it accounts for one in five women’s
deaths.
Stroke is the
third leading cause of death in the United States. Each year, about
700,000 people experience a new or recurrent stroke. About 500,000 of
these are first attacks, and 200,000 are recurrent. Stroke accounted
for more than one of every 15 deaths in the country in 2001.
“Because stroke is
one of the leading causes of disability, it’s public health burden is
immense,” said Virginia Howard, chair of the new stroke statistics
subcommittee. “However, the situation is made worse by the burden
falling more heavily on select groups such as African Americans between
the ages of 35 and 65.”
Stroke in children
peaks in the perinatal period (less than 30 days old). According to
data from the National Hospital Discharge Survey from 1980-1998, the
rate of stroke for infants this age was 26.4 per 100,000 live births.
The stroke rate drops to 2.7 per 100,000 for children ages 1-14.
From 1979 to 1998
in the United States, childhood deaths from stroke declined by 58
percent. However, despite current treatment, one of 10 children with
ischemic stroke (caused by blood clots) will have a recurrence within
five years.
National ranking
The report breaks
down CVD death rates by state, including Puerto Rico and the District of
Columbia. Puerto Rico had the lowest death rate for total
cardiovascular disease in 2000. Mississippi had the highest. Minnesota
had the biggest decrease, with a 26.6 percent lower death rate in 2000
compared to 1990.
For coronary heart
disease (CHD) alone, Utah had the lowest death rate in 2000, while New
York had the highest. Minnesota had the biggest drop in death rate,
with a 39.3 percent lower death rate in 2000 compared to 1990. The
District of Columbia was the only region where the death rate from CHD
increased, with a 6.6 percent higher rate in 2000 compared to 1990.
South Carolina had
the highest death rate from stroke in 2000, New York had the lowest.
The District of Columbia showed the biggest decrease in stroke death
rate in 2000, with a 26.6 percent decline from 1990. Alaska had the
greatest increase in stroke death rate, with a 7 percent higher rate in
2000 than in 1990.
Coronary heart disease (CHD)
This year an
estimated 700,000 Americans will have a coronary attack. About 500,000
will have a recurrent attack. About 42 percent of the people who
experience a coronary attack in a given year will die from it.
This is the first
year the association has compiled statistics for acute coronary
syndromes (ACS), which includes heart attack and unstable angina. “It
is clear from our estimates that ACS is a major reason for
hospitalization for men and women in the United States,” said Chris
O’Donnell, M.D., chair of the statistics committee. “The need is as
great as ever to seek better treatments and prevention for coronary
heart disease.”
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There were
502,189 coronary heart disease deaths in 2001.
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The estimated
annual incidence of heart attack is 565,000 new attacks and 300,000
recurrent attacks. There were 184,757 heart attack deaths in 2001.
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928,000 people
were discharged from the hospital with ACS as the primary diagnosis in
2001. When secondary diagnosis was included, the number of hospital
discharges for ACS was more than 1.6 million.
Other diseases, risk factors, procedures, and costs
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One in five
Americans (and one in four adults) has high blood pressure.
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In 2001, more
than 130 million adult Americans (65.4 percent of the adult
population) were overweight or obese. At the same time, 3.8 million
children ages 6-11 and 5 million adolescents ages 12-19 were
overweight or obese.
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Since 1965
smoking in the United States has declined by more than 40 percent
among people age 18 and older. An estimated 3.2 million Americans
tried their first cigarette in 1997; most of these new users (2.3
million) were ages 12 to 17.
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From 1995 to
1999 an average of 442,398 Americans died each year of smoking-related
illnesses – 33.5 percent of these deaths were cardiovascular-related.
Smoking costs Americans more than $157 billion annually in
health-related economic costs.
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From 1979 to
2001, the number of cardiovascular operations and procedures increased
four-fold.
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