Heart attacks are no longer the leading cause of death in the US

Deaths due to heart attacks have dropped in the United States in the past 50 years, while chronic cardiac affects have soared, probably due to people living longer.

“We have made very good progress in certain areas of mortality by heart disease, but now we see this change,” said Sara King at the University of Stanford in California.

She and her colleagues have collected data on the deaths of heart disease from 1970 to 2022 using the Wonder Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Wonder Database, which follows all the deaths recorded in the country.

They found that in 2022, heart disease represented 24% of all deaths in the United States, compared to 41% in 1970. The decline was largely thanks to a decrease of almost 90% of the deaths of heart attack, which were once the most deadly form of heart disease.

“Incredible progress has been made to reduce deaths after heart attacks in the past 50 years,” said King. This includes new therapies such as heart stents, coronary pontage surgery and hypocholesterolical drugs. Public health measures, such as spectator RCR training and efforts to reduce smoking rates, have probably helped, says King.

Despite this, heart disease remains the best killer in the country, mainly because deaths by other types of heart disease – mainly chronic conditions – increased by 81% over the same period. For example, deaths of heart failure, arrhythmia and hypertensive heart disease increased by 146%, 106%and 450%respectively.

“Many of these conditions are conditions that come with age,” says King. “For us, it seems that people who are now surviving these heart attacks live longer and have more time to develop these chronic cardiac conditions.”

However, the data can exaggerate the discharge of deaths by heart disease. “There are many different causes that could lead to someone’s death, and can lead to poor classification or excessive simplification,” said King. For example, many people die from heart failure after surviving a heart attack. “The underlying cause of this heart failure is always the blockages of these coronary arteries, so it is not in black and white,” explains King.

However, the majority of the deaths of heart disease are clearly due to heart attacks. “It will be important that we focus on these other increasing causes of mortality,” said King. “Finding ways to age in good health will be the next border in cardiology.”