Deaths from Heart Disease: Trends by Subtypes and Demographics

Analyses of death certificate data from 1999 through 2018 show disturbing increases since 2011 in deaths from heart failure and hypertensive heart disease.

Over a 60-year span since 1950, heart disease mortality rates decreased >50% in the U.S., driven by a decrease in ischemic heart disease (IHD) deaths. Recent data, however, indicate that the reduction in IHD deaths is slowing while deaths from other forms (or subtypes) of heart disease are increasing. To characterize the different forms of heart disease deaths, investigators studied mortality trends across race, sex, age, and geographic groups using death certificate data on the 12.9 million deaths from heart disease in 1999–2018 (49% women; Black, 12%; aged <65, 19%).

Deaths from heart disease initially fell from 752,192 in 1999 to 596,577 in 2011 but then swelled to 655,381 by 2018. Over the 19-year span, trends were as follows:

IHD deaths …

Reviewing Author

Karol E. Watson, MD, PhD, FACC

Disclosures

Consultant/Advisory BoardBoehringer Ingelheim; Amgen; Novartis; Lilly; Amarin

Speaker’s BureauBoehringer Ingelheim

Grant/Research SupportNIH

Editorial BoardsCirculation (Associate Editor)