AHA Presents Up-To-Date Statistics for Cardiovascular Disease

WEDNESDAY, Jan. 25, 2023 (HealthDay News) — Up-to-date statistics relating to cardiovascular disease (CVD) are presented in a report from the American Heart Association published online Jan. 25 in Circulation.

Connie W. Tsao, M.D., M.P.H., from the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and Harvard Medical School in Boston, and colleagues provide an update on heart disease, stroke, and cardiovascular risk factors in the United States, with each chapter of the report focusing on a different topic related to heart disease and stroke.

The authors note that as of July 1, 2022, the cumulative number of COVID-19 deaths in the United States was 1,014,620, which was equivalent to about 306 per 100,000 people. As a result, life expectancy at birth decreased from 78.8 years in 2019 to 77.0 years in 2020 overall. The prevalence of CVD (comprising coronary heart disease, heart failure, stroke, and hypertension) was 48.6 percent in adults aged 20 years and older. In 2020, 207.1 per 100,000 people died of heart disease and stroke. Furthermore, 19.05 million deaths were estimated for CVD globally in 2020, which represented an increase of 18.71 percent from 2010. In 2018 to 2019, the average annual direct and indirect cost of CVD was estimated at $407.3 billion; hospital inpatient stays accounted for highest direct cost ($111.4 billion) in the United States.

“While the total number of CVD-related deaths increased from 2019 to 2020, what may be even more telling is that our age-adjusted mortality rate increased for the first time in many years and by a fairly substantial 4.6 percent,” Tsao said in a statement.