American Heart Month 2021

February is American Heart Month. Heart Disease continues to be the leading cause of death in the United States with over 659,000 deaths in 2019.  Heart disease death rates have declined by almost 40 % from 1999 to 2019.  However, the provisional death rate for heart disease during the second quarter of 2020 was 166 deaths per 100,000, up from 159 during the same time in 2019.

There are over 30 million U.S. adults that have been diagnosed with any type of heart disease.  More than 8 million emergency department visits involve coronary artery disease, ischemic heart disease or history of myocardial infarction.