SolveYourProblem Article Series: Heart Health
I Want A Healthy Heart!

Important Heart Health Statistics

You probably realize how important your heart is. But you may think heart health tips don’t apply to you. Let’s look at a few statistics that might help you realize just how important this is to you:

• Heart disease is the biggest single cause of death of men AND women in the USA.
     
• More than 869,000 people died of heart disease in the U.S. in the year 2004. More women than men are affected by heart disease.
      
• Heart disease is the biggest cause of death for many races of people, including Caucasians, Hispanics, Alaska Natives, African Americans, and American Indians. For Asians and Pacific Islanders, the leading cause of death is cancer - but heart disease isn’t far behind.
     
• African Americans have an average of 30% higher rates of heart disease than Caucasians.
     
• The leading type of heart disease is coronary heart disease. Almost 500,000 people died from coronary heart disease in 2004.
     
• About 47% of deaths due to heart related illnesses happen before the patient receives medical care from EMTs or hospital staff.
     
• More than 7,000,000 people are killed by coronary heart disease each year worldwide.
     
• Over one third of adults report having two or more of the six common risk factors for heart disease and stroke. Those are diabetes, smoking, physical inactivity, obesity, high cholesterol, and high blood pressure.
     
• 30.2% of people 20 and older have hypertension or are taking hypertension meds.
• 17.3% of people 20 and older have high cholesterol.
• 30.5% of people 20 and older are obese.
• 6.5% of people 20 and older have diabetes.
• 37.6% of people 18 and older get no physical activity during their leisure time.
• 21.6% of people 18 and older are smokers.
     
• Around 40,000 babies are born in the U.S. each year with congenital heart defects.
     
• Over half of deaths from congenital heart defects are in people under age 15.
     
• 36% of young athletes who experience sudden death die from hypertrophic cardiomyopathy.
     
• Over 30% of high school student report being smokers.
     
• Over 15,000,000 children under age 18 experience second hand smoke at home.
     
• Females age 4-19 have higher mean cholesterol and LDL cholesterol than males.
     
• Over half of high school students are enrolled in physical education classes, but less than one third attend those classes daily.
     
• 12% of Caucasian boys and 11.6% of Caucasian girls age 6-11 are overweight.
     
• 17.1% of African American boys and 22.2% of African American girls are 6-11 are overweight.
     
• 27.3% of Hispanic boys and 19.6% of Hispanic boys age 6-11 are overweight.
     
• The statistics of overweight children are even higher in those age 12-19.
     

With statistics like these, it’s more critical than ever to start your children off with the right habits for heart health as early as possible. More and more children and young adults are dying from heart related issues each year.

And those statistics increase as those children age. You should make sure your children get enough exercise, eat a healthy diet that’s rich in fruits, vegetables, and whole grains, and don’t allow them to eat too much sugar or refined carbs.

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SolveYourProblem.com : 2008

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