Heart disease remains leading cause of death as key health risk factors continue to rise

January 27, 2025 at 05:00 AM EST

Highlights:

According to the American Heart Association’s 2025 Heart Disease and Stroke Statistics Update, heart disease remains the leading cause of death in the U.S.
While medical advances have helped more people live longer with cardiovascular diseases, many of the risk factors which lead to these diseases, including high blood pressure and obesity, continue to grow at alarming rates.
Cardiovascular diseases, including heart disease and stroke, claim more lives in the U.S. than all forms of cancer and accidental deaths – the #2 and #3 causes of death – combined.

Embargoed until 4 a.m. CT / 5 a.m. ET Monday, Jan. 27, 2025

(NewMediaWire) - January 27, 2025 - DALLAS — Heart disease kills more people than any other cause as many of the risks factors that contribute to it remain on the rise, according the data reported in the 2025 Heart Disease and Stroke Statistics: A Report of U.S. and Global Data From the American Heart Association. The annual update published today in Circulation, the peer-reviewed, flagship journal of the American Heart Association, the leading global voluntary health organization devoted to changing the future of health care for a world of healthier lives for all.

“Did you know that in the U.S., someone dies of cardiovascular disease every 34 seconds? Nearly 2,500 people in the U.S. die from cardiovascular disease every day. Those are alarming statistics to me – and they should be alarming for all of us, because it’s likely many among those whom we lose will be our friends and loved ones,” said Keith Churchwell, M.D., FAHA, the volunteer president of the American Heart Association. “Too many people are dying from heart disease and from stroke which remains the 5^th leading cause of death. Together, they kill more people than all cancers and accidental deaths - the #2 and #3 causes of death – combined.”

According to the Association’s 2025 statistical report, in 2022 (the most recent year for which final data is available), the overall number of cardiovascular disease (CVD) related deaths in the U.S. was 941,652, an increase of more than 10,000 from the 931,578 CVD deaths in 2021. The age-adjusted death rate attributable to CVD was 224.3 per 100 000 people, a slight decrease from 233.3 per 100,000 reported in 2021.

The report indicates the overall number of cardiovascular-related deaths appears to be leveling out after a major uptick during the COVID pandemic. In fact, the age-adjusted death rates dropped for all but one of the ten leading causes of death. The kidney disease age-adjusted death rates increased 1.5%.

“Kidney disease has actually been on the rise over the past decade. In our report, we noted a significant increase in the prevalence of chronic kidney disease among Medicare beneficiaries from 9.2% in 2011 to 14.2% in 2021. Additionally, the global prevalence of kidney disease has increased more than 27% in relative terms since 2010,” said American Heart Association volunteer and chair of the Association’s statistical update writing committee Seth S. Martin, M.D., M.H.S., FAHA, a professor of medicine and cardiologist at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine in Baltimore, Maryland. “The reason this is important is that, first, cardiovascular disease is a major contributor to kidney disease. Second, the risk factors of these diseases are closely interrelated. These include high blood pressure, obesity and diabetes – all health conditions that are rising substantially across the U.S. and the world.”

According to the Association’s 2025 Statistics Update:

Nearly 47% of U.S. adults have high blood pressure.
More than 72% of U.S. adults have unhealthy weight (currently defined as body mass index ≥25, with nearly 42% having obesity (currently defined as body mass index ≥30).
More than half of U.S. adults (57%) have type 2 diabetes or prediabetes.

In a 2023 presidential advisory and scientific statement, the American Heart Association recognized cardiovascular-kidney-metabolic (CKM) syndrome as a health disorder due to the risk factor connections among heart disease, kidney disease, diabetes and obesity leading to poor health outcomes.

In the editorial accompanying the 2025 Statistics Update, American Heart Association volunteer Dhruv S. Kazi, M.D., M.Sc., M.S., FAHA, who is head of health economics and associate director of the Richard A. and Susan F. Smith Center for Outcomes Research in Cardiology at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and associate professor at Harvard Medical School in Boston, noted the prevalence of cardiovascular risk factors is projected to worsen over the coming decades.

“Although we have made a lot of progress against cardiovascular disease in the past few decades, there is a lot more work that remains to be done. If recent trends continue, hypertension and obesity will each affect more than 180 million U.S. adults by 2050, whereas the prevalence of diabetes will climb to more than 80 million. And over the same time period, we expect to see a 300% increase health care costs related to cardiovascular disease,” said Kazi, who was the volunteer vice-chair of the advisory writing group of the American Heart Association’s 2024 presidential advisories: Forecasting the Burden of Cardiovascular Disease and Stroke in the United States Through 2050: Prevalence of Risk Factors and Disease and Forecasting the Economic Burden of Cardiovascular Disease and Stroke in the United States through 2050. “And it is important to acknowledge that, although cardiovascular disease affects us all, it doesn’t affect us all equally. For instance, there is wide variation in the prevalence of obesity, diabetes and high blood pressure by sex and race/ethnicity.”

Prevalence rates for major risk factors vary widely across specific sex and race/ethnicity populations. Below are comparisons of the highest rates to the lowest rates of key risk factors among all of the population groups. Rates for each individual population group can be found in the report:

For overall prevalence of obesity, Black women had the highest rate of obesity at 57.9%, compared to the lowest rate of 14.5% which was among Asian women.
For overall prevalence of diabetes, Hispanic men had the highest rate of diabetes at 14.5% compared to the lowest rate of 7.7% which was among white women.
For the overall prevalence of high blood pressure, Black women had the highest rate of high blood pressure at 58.4% compared to the lowest rate of 35.3% which was among Hispanic women.

The prevalence of these risk factors – obesity in particular – is also growing among young people and globally:

As many as 40% of U.S. children have an unhealthy weight (currently defined as body mass index ≥85^th percentile), with 20% having obesity (currently defined as ≥95^th percentile).
Nearly 60% of adults globally have an unhealthy weight.

“In the update, we noted calculations that found excess weight contributes to as many as 1,300 additional deaths per day in the U.S., nearly 500,000 per year. It lowers life expectancy by as much as 2.4 years compared to a healthy weight,” said American Heart Association volunteer and vice-chair of the Association’s statistical update writing committee Latha P. Palaniappan, M.D., M.S., FAHA, a professor of cardiovascular medicine at Stanford University in Palo Alto, California. “The impact on lives lost is twice as high for women, and higher for Black adults than for white adults. It’s alarming to note that excess weight now costs us even more lives than smoking – as smoking rates have actually fallen in recent years. Being overweight is the new smoking when it comes to health threats.”

Tobacco use has long been considered one of the leading preventable causes of death in the U.S. and worldwide. However, smoking rates have been on a steady decline among both adults and youth:

Since the U.S. Surgeon General’s first report on the health dangers of smoking, age-adjusted prevalence of smoking among adults has declined, from 51% of men smoking in 1965 to 15.6% in 2018 and from 34% of women in 1965 to 12.0% in 2018.
Current cigarette use among all U.S. adults is 11.5%.
About 28% of high school students reported ever using any tobacco product in 2023, compared to about 34% in 2022.
In 2023, 12.6% of high school students reported current use of any tobacco product, compared to 16.5% in 2022.
E-cigarette use has also seen a recent downward trend among youth: 10% of high school students reported current use of e-cigarettes in 2023, compared to 14.1% in 2022.

“Another positive trend over the years has been a reduction in the rates of high cholesterol. That’s likely thanks, in part, to increased awareness about the dietary and lifestyle factors that impact cholesterol levels, along with the availability of medications and better clinical control,” Churchwell said. “Recent clinical research has identified a number of new medication therapies to address the growing burden of obesity, as well, and we look forward to learning more about those advances as the body of science builds.”

However, Kazi and Churchwell both warn that the solution to saving lives will need to be much broader than medical intervention.

“The disparities in risk and outcomes call for tailored interventions among high-risk populations,” Kazi said. “Simply discovering breakthrough therapies isn’t going to be enough – we have to ensure that these therapies are accessible and affordable to people who need them most.”

“Heart disease was once considered a death sentence, but thanks to the many advances in clinical diagnosis and treatment, people are able to live longer, healthier lives even after a cardiovascular event,” said Churchwell, who is an associate clinical Professor of Medicine at Yale School of Medicine in New Haven, Connecticut and adjunct Associate Professor of Medicine at the Vanderbilt School of Medicine, Nashville, Tennessee. “Certainly, any medical or clinical therapy that can treat the risk factors that contribute to CVD are essential. More importantly, I would say that we need to stop these risk factors in their tracks, keep people healthy throughout their lifespan. That will only be possible with a strong emphasis on early prevention and equitable health access for all.”

This statistics update was prepared by a volunteer writing group on behalf of the American Heart Association Council on Epidemiology and Prevention Statistics Committee and Stroke Statistics Committee.

Additional author names and authors’ disclosures are listed in the manuscript.

Additional Resources:

Available multimedia is on right column of release link https://newsroom.heart.org/news/heart-disease-remains-leading-cause-of-death-as-key-health-risk-factors-continue-to-rise?preview=f824068b85ceb351c50a286f9756433f
Spanish news release | Traditional Chinese news release | Simplified Chinese news release
After 4 a.m. CT/5 a.m. ET on Monday, Jan. 27, 2025, view the manuscript online.
View 2025 fact sheets on specific populations at heart.org/statistics.
American Heart Association’s Life’s Essential 8™
Follow news from Circulation on X @CircAHA.
Follow AHA/ASA news on X @HeartNews

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The Association receives funding primarily from individuals. Foundations and corporations (including pharmaceutical, device manufacturers and other companies) also make donations and fund specific Association programs and events. The Association has strict policies to prevent these relationships from influencing the science content. Revenues from pharmaceutical and biotech companies, device manufacturers and health insurance providers, and the Association’s overall financial information are available here.

About the American Heart Association

The American Heart Association is a relentless force for a world of longer, healthier lives. Dedicated to ensuring equitable health in all communities, the organization has been a leading source of health information for more than one hundred years. Supported by more than 35 million volunteers globally, we fund groundbreaking research, advocate for the public’s health, and provide critical resources to save and improve lives affected by cardiovascular disease and stroke. By driving breakthroughs and implementing proven solutions in science, policy, and care, we work tirelessly to advance health and transform lives every day. Connect with us on heart.org, Facebook, X or by calling 1-800-AHA-USA1.

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Cathy Lewis: cathy.lewis@heart.org

For Public Inquiries: 1-800-AHA-USA1 (242-8721)

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Heart disease remains leading cause of death as key health risk factors continue to rise

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