Quick Facts

1.      Nearly one million people die of cardiovascular disease in the United States every year, despite over $350 billion spent annually.

 

2.      Powerful new drugs and innovative interventional procedures like balloon angioplasty and stent implants have failed to halt the ongoing threat of cardiovascular disease. 

 

3.      There are 6 million hospitalizations every year as a result of cardiovascular disease.

 

4.      Cardiovascular disease is responsible for more deaths every year than cancer, AIDS, drunk-drivers, and gun-related incidents combined.

 

5.      Every year, about 17 million people around the world die of cardiovascular diseases. Most of these deaths are preventable.

 

6.      About 700,000 Americans suffer a stroke every year, and more than 160,000 die.

 

7.      Approximately 120,000 people in the United States get a part of their leg amputated every year. These amputations are caused by blockages in the arteries of legs and a lack of blood flow to the feet and toes. 

 

8.      About 10 million people in the U.S. have peripheral artery disease, which is the disease that results in leg amputations. The first symptom these patients experience is usually leg pain. 

 

9.      Nearly 14 million people in the U.S. have coronary artery disease, where the arteries feeding the heart are hardened, thickened and calloused from years of damage caused by thick and viscous blood. 

 

10. Blockages in the arteries are called atherosclerotic plaques. If plaque in an artery feeding the heart ruptures, blood flow to the heart can stop, resulting in a heart attack.

 

11. There are nearly one and half million heart attacks in the U.S. per year. Most are preventable.

 

12. Every 33 seconds, someone in the United States dies of cardiovascular disease.

 

13. Nearly 10 million people in the U.S. are afflicted with congestive heart failure.

 

14. Over 60 million people in the United States have cardiovascular disease, but only one-third of them realize that they have it.