AHA: Heart Disease Death Rates in U.S. Spiked in 2020

FRIDAY, Nov. 4, 2022 (HealthDay News) -- Deaths from heart disease increased in 2020 in the United States, following a steady decline from 2010 to 2019, according to a study presented at the American Heart Association Scientific Sessions 2022, held from Nov. 5 to 7 in Chicago.

Rebecca C. Woodruff, Ph.D., M.P.H., from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, and colleagues examined the percentage change between 2010, 2019, and 2020 heart disease death rates overall and by heart disease subtypes and demographic subgroups.

The researchers found that across age, sex, and race and ethnicity groups, there was a decrease in heart disease death rates during 2010 to 2019, followed by an increase in 2020. The national heart disease death rate decreased by 9.8 percent from 2010 to 2019 and increased by 4.1 percent in 2020, to approximately the same rate as in 2015. In 2020, 55 percent of total heart disease deaths were due to coronary heart disease. For non-Hispanic Black adults, there was a 10.4 percent decrease in the heart disease death rate from 2010 to 2019, followed by an increase of 11.2 percent in 2020, resulting in similar rates for 2020 and 2010. Heart disease death rates decreased from 2010 to 2019 among adults aged 35 to 54 and 55 to 74 years (5.5 and 2.3 percent, respectively) and increased in 2020 (12.0 and 7.8 percent, respectively), resulting in higher heart disease death rates in 2020 than 2010.

"The increases in death rates from heart disease in 2020 represented about five years of lost progress among adults nationwide and about 10 years of lost progress among younger adults and non-Hispanic Black adults," Woodruff said in a statement.

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