James B. Meigs

Each year, the American Heart Association (AHA), in conjunction with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the National Institutes of Health, and other government agencies, brings together the most up-to-date statistics on heart disease, stroke, other vascular diseases, and their risk factors and presents them in its Heart Disease and Stroke Statistical Update. The Statistical Update is a valuable resource for researchers, clinicians, healthcare policy makers, media professionals, the lay public, and many others who seek the best national data available on disease morbidity and mortality and the risks, quality of care, medical procedures and operations, and costs associated with the management of these diseases in a single document. Indeed, since 1999, the Statistical Update has been cited more than 8700 times in the literature (including citations of all annual versions). In 2009 alone, the various Statistical Updates were cited ≈1600 times (data from ISI Web of Science). In recent years, the Statistical Update has undergone some major changes with the addition of new chapters and major updates across multiple areas. For this year’s edition, the Statistics Committee, which produces the document for the AHA, updated all of the current chapters with the most recent nationally representative data and inclusion of relevant articles from the literature over the past year and added a new chapter detailing how family history and genetics play a role in cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk. Also, the 2011 Statistical Update is a major source for monitoring both cardiovascular health and disease in the population, with a focus on progress toward achievement of the AHA’s 2020 Impact Goals. Below are a few highlights from this year’s Update.

Each year the American Heart Association, in conjunction with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the National Institutes of Health, and other government agencies, brings together the most up-to-date statistics on heart disease, stroke, and their risk factors and presents them in its Heart Disease and Stroke Statistical Update.The Statistical Update is a valuable resource for researchers, clinicians, healthcare policy makers, media, the lay public, and many others who seek the best national data available on disease and risk factor prevalence, disease incidence, and mortality rates in a single document.This year's edition includes several areas not covered in previous editions.Below are a few highlights from this year's Update in the areas of cardiovascular disease (CVD) mortality, control of risk factors, kidney disease, and medical care. Death rates from CVD have declined, yet the burden of disease remains high.• The 2004 overall death rate from CVD (International Classification of Diseases 10, I00 -I99) was 288.0 per 100 000.The rates were 335.1 per 100 000 for white males, 454.0 per 100 000 for black males, 238.0 per 100 000 for white females, and 333.6 per 100 000 for black females.From 1994 to 2004, death rates from CVD (International Classification of Diseases 10, I00 -I99) declined 24.7%.Preliminary mortality data from 2005 show that CVD (I00 -I99; Q20 -Q28) accounted for 35.2% (861 826) of all 2 447 910 deaths in 2005, or 1 of every 2.8 deaths in the United States.• Nearly 2400 Americans die of CVD each day-an average of 1 death every 37 seconds.The 2005 overall preliminary death rate from CVD was 279.2.More than 148 000 Americans killed by CVD (I00 -I99) in 2004 were Ͻ65 years of age.In 2004, 32% of deaths from CVD occurred before the age of 75 years, which is well before the average life expectancy of 77.9 years.• Coronary heart disease caused 1 of every 5 deaths in the United States in 2004.Coronary heart disease mortality was 451 326.In 2008, an estimated 770 000 Americans will have a new coronary attack, and about 430 000 will have a recurrent attack.It is estimated that an additional 175 000 silent first myocardial infarctions occur each year.About every 26 seconds, an American will have a coronary event, and about every minute someone will die from one.• Each year, about 780 000 people experience a new or recurrent stroke.About 600 000 of these are first attacks, and 180 000 are recurrent attacks.Preliminary data from 2005 indicate that stroke accounted for about 1 of every 17 deaths in the United States.On average, every 40 seconds someone in the United States has a stroke.From 1994 to 2004, the stroke death rate fell 24.2%, and the actual number of stroke deaths declined 6.8%.• In 2004, 1 in 8 death certificates (284 365 deaths) in the United States mentions heart failure. Control of risk factors remains an issue for manyAmericans.• End-stage renal disease and chronic kidney disease are conditions that are most commonly associated with diabetes and/or high blood pressure and occur when the kidneys can no longer function normally on their own.• The incidence of reported end-stage renal disease has almost doubled in the past 10 years.In 2004, 104 364 new cases of end-stage renal disease were reported.• The number of persons treated for end-stage renal disease increased from 68 757 in 1994 to 102 356 in 2004; this translates to 261.3 per million in 1994 to 348.6 per million in 2004.• The US Renal Data System estimates that by 2010, 650 000 Americans will require treatment for kidney failure, which represents a 60% increase over the number who received such treatment in 2001.• The prevalence of chronic kidney disease (stages I-V) is 16.8%.This represents an increase over the 14.5% preva-e26