Heart Attack Deaths Drop, but Other Heart Risks Climb
Heart disease remains the leading cause of death in the U.S., claiming one life every 33 seconds, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), but the way it affects people is changing. A new study published June 25 in the Journal of the American Heart Association finds that fewer people are dying from heart attacks and an increasing number of people are succumbing to other heart conditions.
In the past 52 years, deaths from heart attacks have declined by nearly 90 percent, the study found, and overall heart disease death rates dropped by 66 percent. However, researchers have tracked an increase in deaths from heart failure, arrhythmias and hypertensive heart disease, which is a condition that develops as a result of long-term high blood pressure.
The decline in heart attack deaths is no doubt a “remarkable public health success,” Michael G. Nanna, M.D., an interventional cardiologist at Yale School of Medicine, wrote in an email to AARP.
What was once a death sentence decades ago is a more manageable condition today, Carlos Rodriguez, M.D., director of clinical cardiovascular research and director of cardiovascular epidemiology at Montefiore Einstein, also wrote by email.
However, Rodriguez says, this new study is a reminder that heart attacks are just one type of heart disease. “There are other types of heart disease which are still a threat,” Rodriguez says.
A closer look at the numbers
From 1970 to 2022, heart disease was to blame for 31 percent of all deaths among adults age 25 and up. It was responsible for 41 percent of total deaths in 1970 — a figure that dropped to 24 percent in 2022.
In 1970, 54 percent of individuals who died from heart disease did so due to a heart attack, which is one type of heart disease. By 2022, 29 percent of heart disease deaths were from heart attacks, which is an 89 percent decrease from decades earlier.
Mortality rates from all other types of heart disease — heart failure, hypertensive heart disease and arrhythmia — went up 81 percent between 1970 and 2022, the study found. These conditions made up 9 percent of all deaths in 1970 and 47 percent of heart disease deaths in 2022.
Specifically, deaths from heart failure rose 146 percent over the 52-year span. Mortality from hypertensive heart disease increased by 106 percent, and deaths from arrhythmias soared by 450 percent during the same time frame, according to the report.
What’s behind the shift?
The study didn’t look at the cause behind the growth in deaths from the three subtypes of heart disease, says Sara King, M.D., study author and an internal medicine resident in the Department of Medicine at Stanford School of Medicine. “We do know that the U.S. population is aging,” she says, and heart disease risk increases with age. It makes sense, then, that as more people survive heart attacks, they will develop other heart health issues. Also, a person’s heart can be weakened and develop heart failure as a result of a heart attack, King notes.
But it’s not just age, experts say. “Certainly age is a major risk factor for heart disease,” says Ashish Sarraju, M.D., a preventive cardiologist at the Cleveland Clinic. “But we also are seeing a rise in cardiometabolic risk factors, particularly obesity and diabetes, so we shouldn’t write everything off to age alone.”
Indeed, cardiovascular risk factors such as hypertension, obesity and type 2 diabetes, which contribute to heart issues, have gone up, the study’s authors said in a statement. Obesity prevalence increased from 15 percent to 40 percent over the course of the study.
“There is an aspect of decreased exercise that probably influences this as well,” David J. Callans, M.D., a cardiologist at Penn Medicine, told AARP in an email.
Meanwhile, advances in prevention and measures to improve early diagnosis and treatment have contributed to the drop in heart attack deaths and overall heart disease deaths, experts say. Some advancements that have changed the game, according to the scientists: coronary angiography and stenting, statins, high-sensitivity diagnostics to improve the rapid diagnosis of heart attacks, and antiplatelet agents to reduce clotting and restore blood flow to the heart. Smoke-free policies, a greater push for exercise and updated guidelines on cholesterol management and blood pressure have also helped heart health on the whole, the study’s authors wrote.
Better heart attack management has led to increased survivorship, though survivors can still experience chronic heart conditions.
Lower your risks
Many heart disease deaths are preventable, said Keith Churchwell, M.D., the American Heart Association volunteer president, in a statement. For instance, managing your weight, cholesterol and blood pressure; getting enough sleep; and exercising regularly can lower your risk of developing and dying from heart disease.
“We’ve won major battles against heart attacks; however, the war against heart disease isn’t over,” King said in a statement. “We now need to tackle heart failure and other chronic conditions that affect people as they age.”
And the good news for older adults: “It is never too late to modify lifestyle habits, that is, to switch to heart-healthy dietary patterns and increase exercise,” Sarraju says.
Working with your doctor is also key to stay on top of your risk factors or any heart ailments, King says.
“Be connected with your primary care doctor,” King suggests. “And if you do have a heart condition, with your cardiologist.”
