By Emily Miller
According to the American Heart Association’s Heart Disease and Stroke Statistical Update 2014, heart disease and stroke continue to serve as the No. 1 and No. 4 cause of death in the U.S., respectively.
The update reflects the most up-to-date statistics on heart disease, stroke, other vascular diseases and their risk factors. It also serves as the only source for current prevalence date on cardiovascular health. Additional information is provided by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the National Institutes of Health and other government agencies.
Below is a snapshot of commonly referenced facts and figures from the AHA’s recent statistical update:
Cardiovascular Diseases
· Cardiovascular diseases claim more lives than all forms of cancer combined
· Direct and in-direct costs of cardiovascular diseases and stroke total more than $ 315.4 billion each year
· About 83.6 million Americans are living with some form of cardiovascular disease or the after-effects of stroke
· Someone in the U.S. dies from heart disease about once every 90 seconds
Heart Diseases
· Over the past 10 years for which statistics are available, the death rates for heart disease have fallen about 39 percent – but the burden and risk factors remain alarmingly high
· In the U.S., heart disease strikes someone about once every 34 seconds
· Operations and procedures totaled about $ 7.6 million in 2010
· About 720,000 people in the U.S. have heart attacks each year. Of those, about 122,000 die
Strokes
· Stroke is the No. 4 cause of death in the U.S., killing more than 129,000 people a year
· Stroke kills someone in the U.S. about once every four minutes
· Over the past 10 years, the death rate from stroke has fallen about 36 percent and the number of stroke deaths has dropped about 23 percent
· Stroke is a leading cause of disability
The American Heart Association gauges the cardiovascular health of the nation by tracking seven key factors and behaviors that increase risks for heart disease and stroke. The key factors are smoking, physical activity, and healthy diet, overweight/obesity, cholesterol, high blood pressure and blood sugar/diabetes.
By managing and maintaining these factors, one can reduce their risk of developing any type of cardiovascular or heart disease while also reducing the cost of their health insurance.
