Heart disease in the United States

In the United States:

• Heart disease is the leading cause of death for men, women, and people of most racial and ethnic groups.1
• One person dies every 34 seconds from cardiovascular disease.1
• In 2023, 919,032 people died from cardiovascular disease. That’s the equivalent of 1 in every 3 deaths.1
• Heart disease is costly. The cost of health care services and medications from heart disease amounted to more than $168 billion between 2021 and 2022

• Coronary artery disease (CAD)

  • Coronary heart disease is the most common type of heart disease. It killed 371,506 people in 2022.1
  • About 1 in 20 adults age 20 and older have CAD (about 5%).3
  • In 2023, about 1 out of every 6 deaths from cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) was among adults younger than 65 years old.1

  Heart attack

  • In the United States, someone has a heart attack every 40 seconds.3
  • Every year, about 805,000 people in the United States have a heart attack.3 Of these, 605,000 are a first heart attack, and 200,000 happen to be people who have already had a heart attack.3
  • About 1 in 5 heart attacks are silent—the damage is done, but the person is not aware of it.3

  • Who is affected

    Heart disease deaths vary by sex, race, and ethnicity

    Heart disease is the leading cause of death for people of most racial and ethnic groups in the United States. These include African American, American Indian, Alaska Native, Hispanic, and White men. For women from the Pacific Islands and Asian American, American Indian, Alaska Native, and Hispanic women, heart disease is second only to cancer.1

    Below are the percentages of all deaths caused by heart disease in 2021, listed by ethnicity, race, and sex.

    Race or Ethnic Group

    % of Deaths

    American Indian or Alaska Native

    15.5

    Asian

    18.6

    Black (Non-Hispanic)

    22.6

    Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander

    18.3

    White (Non-Hispanic)

    18.0

    Hispanic

    11.9

    All

    17.4

    Americans at risk for heart disease

    High blood pressure, high blood cholesterol, and smoking are key risk factors for heart disease.

    Several other medical conditions and lifestyle choices can also put people at a higher risk for heart disease, including: