Heart Disease and Stroke Statistics, 2019 Update

This just in, the Heart Disease and Stroke Statistics 2019 update from the American Heart Association reveals that:

• 4 million, or 46% of US adults are likely to have high blood pressure (hypertension). These are findings based on to the current 2017 Hypertension Clinical Practice Guidelines.
• On average, a person dies of Cardiovascular Diseases (CVD) every 38 seconds. There are approximately 2,303 deaths from CVD every day, according to 2016 data.
• On average, a person dies resulting from a stroke every 3 minutes & 42 seconds. There are approximately 389 stroke related deaths every day, according to 2016 data.

Among the various statistics in the AHA 2019 update, some indicate progress while others indicate opportunities for improvement.

Smoking and Tobacco Use

Tobacco use, a primary cause of preventable death internationally, has steadily declined in the United States in recent decades. Based on recent data:

• 5% of adults and 3.4% of adolescents smoked cigarettes in the last month.
• Tobacco use rates are higher among American Indian/Alaska Natives and LGBT.
• E-cigarette use among high school students has risen dramatically to 11.3% compared to previous years. However, it is lower than it was over the past two years.

In cities where laws increased the minimum age to buy tobacco from 18 to 21 years, the prevalence of smoking among high school students declined to 47%. If ratified nationally, it could prevent 249,000 early deaths, 45,000 deaths caused by lung cancer and 4.2 million lost life-years.

Sugar-sweetened Beverage (SSB) Tax

Taxes on sugary beverages have achieved positive results:

In Mexico, SSB purchases declined by 5.5% one year after implementing a 1 peso per liter tax, and by 9.7% after two years.

A comparable 1 cent/ounce excise tax on SSBs in Berkeley, California resulted in a 9.6% decline in SSB sales after only a year.

WIC Food Packages

The Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children (WIC) food packages were revised in 2009 to incorporate more fruits, vegetables, whole grains and lower-fat milk. These updates were correlated with improved diet quality among program participants, according to the Healthy Eating Index. If more changes are created in future years, participants’ diet quality could benefit.

Overweight and Obesity

Rates of obesity and severe obesity in youth (2-19 years) didn’t grow drastically from 2007-2008 to 2015-2016, but the pervasiveness remains high at 18.5%.

Among older adolescents (12-19 years), the prevalence of ideal Body Mass Index (<25 kg/m2) dropped 14.3% from 1999-2000 to 2015-2016.

For adults, prevalence of obesity and severe obesity increased considerably over the last 10 years. The 2015-2016 estimates reveal that approximately 40% of adults are obese and 7.7% of those are classified as “severe.”

Obesity is linked to a shorter lifespan and living a lengthier percentage of life with CVD. Higher Body Mass Index is linked to a significantly higher risk of death caused by CVD.

On a positive note, the rate of inactive adults dropped from 40% in 2007 to approximately 30% in 2016.

Full article

Supporting Materials

• Heart Disease and Stroke Statistics – At-a-Glance (PDF)
• Commentary: Latest heart disease and stroke statistics reveal challenges and opportunities by Mariell Jessup, MD, FAHA; Chief Science and Medical Officer, American Heart Association
• AHA News: Cardiovascular diseases affect nearly half of American adults, statistics show
• News Release: Nearly half of all U.S. adults have some form of cardiovascular disease