Heart attack deaths are way down after decades of breakthroughs—but other risks have skyrocketed
The number of Americans dying from heart attacks, and ischemic heart disease in general, has decreased dramatically in the last five decades. When it comes to heart failure, atrial fibrillation and a few other complex heart issues, however, mortality rates are actually on the rise.
That is all according to a new analysis of Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) data published in the Journal of the American Heart Association.[1] The study’s authors focused on age-adjusted mortality rates for a variety of heart disease subtypes among adults 25 years old and older from 1970 to 2022.
Overall, after decades of breakthroughs in patient care, the percentage of U.S. deaths attributed to heart disease dropped from 41% in 1970 to 24% in 2022. The adjusted death rate for acute myocardial infarctions decreased by a whopping 89% in those 52 years. However, the adjusted death rates for heart failure, hypertensive heart disease and arrhythmias increased by 146%, 106% and 450%, respectively.
“This distribution shift in the types of heart disease people were dying from the most was very interesting to us,” first author Sara King, MD, a second-year internal medicine resident in the department of medicine at Stanford School of Medicine in Stanford, California, said in an American Heart Association statement. “This evolution over the past 50 years reflects incredible successes in the way heart attacks and other types of ischemic heart disease are managed. However, the substantial increase in deaths from other types of heart conditions, including heart failure and arrhythmias, poses emerging challenges the medical community must address.”
“While heart attack deaths are down by 90% since 1970, heart disease hasn’t gone away,” added Latha Palaniappan, MD, MS, a professor of cardiovascular medicine and associate dean for research with Stanford. “Now that people are surviving heart attacks, we are seeing a rise in other forms of heart disease like heart failure. The focus now must be on helping people age with strong, healthy hearts by preventing events, and prevention can start as early as childhood.”
Obesity, type 2 diabetes and hypertension are all also on the rise throughout the United States. As the country’s population continues to age, there is a risk of that trend only getting worse in the years ahead. The authors highlighted the fact that work must continue to help ensure patient care keeps improving over time.
“We have so many tools in our toolbox now, but still, there’s a lot more that can be developed and improved,” King said in a separate statement. “I hope the numbers just keep getting better.”
The group did note that this study has certain limitations, including changes in coding practices over the years and the risk of issues being incorrectly classified.
Click here to read the full analysis.
Michael has more than 19 years of experience as a professional writer and editor. He has written at length about cardiology, radiology, artificial intelligence and other key healthcare topics.