Noteworthy numbers from the 2002 Statistical Update

• More lives were lost to cardiovascular disease (CVD) than any other cause of death: CVD deaths in 1999 totaled 958,755; cancer 549,838; accidents 97,860; Alzheimer’s disease 44,536 and HIV/AIDS 14,802.
• Coronary heart disease alone caused 529,659 deaths in the United States in 1999 – about one of every five deaths. About 250,000 people a year die of coronary heart disease without being hospitalized. Most of these are sudden deaths caused by cardiac arrest, usually resulting from ventricular fibrillation – a condition in which the heart’s lower (pumping) chambers contract in a rapid, unsynchronized way and the heart pumps little or no blood.
• According to data from the CDC, yearly totals of sudden cardiac death in people ages 15 to 34 rose from 2,719 in 1989 to 3,000 in 1996. Alarmingly, though the numbers are very small, the death rate increased by 30 percent in young women. Death rates were also higher among young African Americans than among Caucasians.
• About one in five deaths from cardiovascular diseases are attributable to smoking, and about 37,000-40,000 nonsmokers die from CVD each year as a result of exposure to passive cigarette smoke.
• Only 39 percent of adults with high blood pressure had their levels controlled to less than 140/90 mm Hg, according to the National Center for Quality Assurance.
• From 1979 to 1999 the number of cardiac catheterizations increased 355 percent. In 1999 an estimated 1,359,000 cardiac catheterizations were performed.
• In 1999, 571,000 bypass procedures were performed on 355,000 patients (these numbers represent both code and vessel data, thus it is impossible to determine the average number of vessels bypassed per patient).
• An estimated 601,000 angioplasty procedures were performed in 1999 in the United States. From 1987 to 1999, the number of these procedures increased 285 percent.

NR01 – 1398 (Stats2002)

CONTACT: Carole Bullock: (214) 706-1279
Maggie Francis: (214) 706-1397