Heart Attack Statistics

Heart attack, also known as myocardial infarction, is a health condition wherein the normal blood supply to a part of the heart is disrupted, which in turn causes the cells in this part to die. In simple words, a heart attack is caused as a result of blocked blood flow to the heart. Such a problem with the heart can cause some serious damage to the individuals health, and even result in death of the individual.

Basically, heart attack is caused as a result of atherosclerosis - a health condition marked by fatty deposits in the arterial walls. Owing to the fatty deposits, the arteries become narrow over a period. Eventually, the pressure put on these arteries causes them to rupture, and releases some substances in the bloodstream which causes it to clot, and hampers its flow. Statistics reveals that the total number of deaths attributed to heart attacks in the United States is much more than the total number of deaths attributed to ailments such as cancer.

Statistics on Heart Attack (Myocardial Infarction)

In the United States, 785,000 individuals suffer their first heart attack and 470,000 individuals suffer from their second heart attack every year. Given below are more of such heart attack statistics which will help you in understanding the complications associated with this health problem.

• Approximately 1.5 million Americans suffer a heart attack in the United States every year, from which as many as 500,000 die.
• Out of these 500,000 deaths recorded in the United States every year, 250,000 deaths occur on the way to the hospital.
• In case of heart attack, 50 percent deaths occur within an hour of the attack before they could get proper medical help. This explain why a large number of people die on their way to the hospital.
• According to a World Health Organization study, almost half the cases of heart attacks in the world are attributed to high blood pressure.
• Heart attack is one of the most common health issue in the United States, with at least one case of the same for every 20 seconds and one fatality every minute.
• Taking into consideration the various heart diseases, and the death toll increases to one death for every 34 seconds.
• Approximately 6 million people in the United States get hospitalized complaining about pain in the chest, only to be diagnosed for some cardiovascular disease.
• On an average, one can see a difference of 10 years in the age at which men and women are likely to suffer the first heart attack.
• Sudden death from a heart attack is more common in women than it is in men. According to the National Registry of Myocardial Infarction, women under the age of 50 are twice as likely to succumb to a heart attack as opposed to their male counterparts.
• The chances of a person succumbing to heart attack is 23 percent in women and 18 percent in women in the age group of 40 and above.
• The incidence rate of heart attacks shows an increasing trend with age. While the incidence rate is 0.3 per 10,000 people in the age group of 0-34, the same shoots up to 116.2 for the age group of 75 - 84 years.
• More recently, a study of the data compiled over a period of last five decades for Framingham Heart Study revealed that heart attack survival rates are improving. In fact, the number of deaths due to heart attack are reducing by 12 percent on an average every decade.
• In Canada approximately 70,000 people suffer a heart attack every year, which means one person suffers an attack for every 7 minutes.
• Approximately 16,000 people succumb to heart attack in Canada every year. As in case of the United States, most of the deaths in Canada occur on the way to hospital as well.

In 2010, heart attacks are estimated to cost the United States a whopping $316.4 billion in order to provide health care services, medications and, not to forget, lost productivity. With so many complications to its credit, heart attack is undoubtedly one of the most serious ailment in the world. And hence, it is better off to resort to the practice of healthy living and keep such health issues at bay.