February is American Heart Month, a time when all people—especially women—are encouraged to focus on their cardiovascular health. This post contains facts and resources that anyone can use to raise awareness about the risks of heart disease and the importance of identifying and managing heart-related health conditions.
Heart disease quick facts
- Heart disease is very common. In the United States, heart disease is the leading cause of death for men, women, and people of most racial and ethnic groups. In 2022, 1 in every 5 deaths in the United States was caused by heart disease.
- High blood pressure is a leading cause of heart disease. Nearly half of U.S. adults have high blood pressure, which puts them at risk for heart disease and stroke. And just 1 in 4 people with high blood pressure has it under control.
- Heart disease is costly. The cost of health care services, medications, and lost productivity from heart disease amounted to $252.2 billion between 2019 and 2020.
Shareable and printable tools in English and Spanish
- Managing My Blood Pressure: Use this printable list of questions to ask your health care team to help you manage your blood pressure. (Also available en español.)
- My Blood Pressure Log: You can use this printable log when you measure your own blood pressure. (Also available en español.)
- My First Blood Pressure Visit: Record important blood pressure–related information on this page before your appointments. (Also available en español.)
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.
- One person dies every 33 seconds from cardiovascular disease.
- In 2022, 702,880 people died from heart disease. That’s the equivalent of 1 in every 5 deaths.
- Heart disease cost about $252.2 billion from 2019 to 2020. This includes the cost of health care services, medicines, and lost productivity due to death.
Coronary artery disease (CAD)
- Coronary heart disease is the most common type of heart disease. It killed 371,506 people in 2022.
- About 1 in 20 adults age 20 and older have CAD (about 5%).
- In 2022, about 1 out of every 5 deaths from cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) was among adults younger than 65 years old.
Heart attack
- In the United States, someone has a heart attack every 40 seconds.
- Every year, about 805,000 people in the United States have a heart attack. Of these, 605,000 are a first heart attack, and 200,000 happen to be people who have already had a heart attack.
- About 1 in 5 heart attacks are silent—the damage is done, but the person is not aware of it.
