The American Heart Association (AHA) says that more than 940,000 Americans died of cardiovascular causes in 2022, making it the leading cause of death in this country.
The AHA’s latest statistical report shows that cardiovascular disease (CVD) accounted for 941,652 deaths in the U.S. in 2022. Heart disease and stroke claimed more lives than all forms of cancer and chronic lower respiratory disease combined. In 2021 there were 931,578 cardiovascular deaths, slightly less than in 2022, according to The Washington Post,.
The 2025 Heart Disease and Stroke Statistics Update reveals that coronary heart disease claimed 39.5% of lives, followed by stroke at 17.6% in 2022. The AHA report notes that other cardiovascular diseases were responsible for 17% of deaths, followed by hypertensive disorders (14%), heart failure (9.3%), and arterial diseases (2.6%).
On average in 2022, someone died of a stroke every three minutes 11 seconds, accounting for one out of every 20 deaths in the U.S. Approximately every 40 seconds, says the report, someone suffers a myocardial infarction, or heart attack.
The report further states that between 2017 and 2020, 48.6% of U.S adults had some form of cardiovascular disease.
An AHA news release says that while medical advances have helped more people live longer with cardiovascular diseases, many of the risk factors that cause these diseases, including high blood pressure and obesity, are growing at alarming rates.