You likely know someone with cardiovascular disease (CVD), and there's a reason why: It's the leading cause of death globally among men, women, and most races and ethnicities, and it has been for 100 years. In this blog, we're more closely examining the numbers behind cardiovascular diseases — deaths, associated costs, and more.

Note: Cardiovascular disease is an umbrella term that includes coronary heart disease (CHD), stroke, heart failure, cerebrovascular disease, rheumatic heart disease, and other problems with the heart and blood vessels.

How Many People Die From Cardiovascular Disease?

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, in the United States, one person dies every 33 seconds from cardiovascular disease. This equates to approximately 18 million deaths caused by cardiovascular disease each year.

More specifically, in 2021, heart disease and stroke (the fifth leading cause of death) caused more deaths in this country than all types of cancer and chronic lower respiratory disease combined.

How Many People Have Cardiovascular Diseases?

Health statistics show that about half of American adults experience some sort of heart disease.

Interestingly, there seems to be a gender gap when it comes to diagnosing and treating heart disease. Historically, women with heart disease have been underdiagnosed and undertreated. It's true that the overall prevalence of coronary heart disease in women is lower. They also develop heart disease later in life, compared to men.

However, there is still a discrepancy in awareness of symptoms and how women are treated by medical professionals. Research has found that when women go to the emergency room with chest pain, they have to wait 11 minutes longer to see a healthcare provider, compared to men with similar symptoms! Plus, they're less likely to be referred to a specialist or for diagnostic checks, and when they do receive treatment, their outcomes tend to be worse than men.

While we've made some progress, there is still much work to be done. For example, the American Heart Association ran a survey in 2019 and found that just 44% of women identified heart disease as the most deadly threat, compared to 65% in 2009, suggesting a decrease in awareness.

How Much Does Heart Disease Cost?

Cardiovascular diseases take a financial toll. For instance, between 2018 and 2019 in the US, the total cost was approximately $239.9 billion. This included the cost of medical care services, medication, and lost productivity due to death. Estimates tell us that by 2030, lost productivity costs could surpass $275 billion, and annual direct medical costs related to cardiovascular diseases could be more than $818 billion.

Why is Heart Disease the Leading Cause of Death?

There's good and bad news here: The bad news is that we are the reason that death rates due to heart disease are so high. The good news is that death rates are so high largely because of lifestyle habits, which we have control over!

Some of the biggest risk factors for cardiovascular diseases like coronary heart disease and stroke are smoking, being overweight/obese, a poor diet, excessive alcohol consumption, a lack of physical activity, high blood pressure, and high cholesterol.

If we look more closely at the data, it becomes easier to see why cardiovascular diseases are so common. The CDC says that in 2021, about 11.5% of Americans engaged in cigarette smoking. Approximately 63% of adults drink alcohol. More than 66% of us are overweight or obese — specifically, more than 42% of US adults are obese while 30.7% are overweight.

Among these risk factors, high blood pressure is one of the biggest risk factors for cardiovascular diseases. High blood pressure can also put your kidneys and brain at risk, among other parts of your body. According to data, almost half of Americans 20 years of age and older (more than 122 million of us) have high blood pressure. Even if your blood pressure is within a healthy range right now, note that this can change: Of Americans ages 65 years and older, more than 75% have high blood pressure.

If you are elderly or have a senior you care about in your life, learn more heart health tips for the elderly and read our blog on healthy aging.

High cholesterol is another huge culprit: Data tells us that approximately 71 million Americans are dealing with it.

Back to the good news: We have the power to slash death rates for cardiovascular diseases by eating a healthy diet, maintaining appropriate body weight, refraining from smoking, keeping alcohol consumption to a minimum, and moving our bodies a little bit every day.

Can You Completely Reverse Heart Disease?

It depends on what specific heart disease you have. Because cardiovascular diseases develop over time, you can't always undo all of the damage. Looking at acute coronary syndrome, as an example, while there's no cure, early diagnosis and treatment can stop the heart disease from progressing and getting worse.

As another example, if you make sincere changes to your lifestyle, over time, it's possible to reverse coronary artery disease.

Getting Proactive About Heart Disease

Don't wait until your first heart attack strikes or you learn that your blood pressure is off the charts. The time to get serious about your heart health is now.

eNational Testing's Cardiac Risk Monitoring Panel is an in-depth screening that gives you a 360-degree view of your cardiac health. This is a powerful way to learn more about your risk of experiencing heart attack, stroke, cardiovascular diseases, and other heart-related health issues. The panel provides insight into your cholesterol, inflammation, iron, body fat, and vitamin levels, among other factors.

This is a blood draw (fasting is required), and test results are delivered to you via email in four to seven business days.

Smart lifestyle choices and preventative medical care are the winning combination. Quit smoking and any other tobacco use, eat healthy to avoid obesity, reduce or stop your alcohol intake, and stay physically active. Combine these practices with something like eNational Testing's Cardiac Risk Monitoring Panel, and you'll greatly reduce your risk of experiencing heart disease.