Although cardiac heart disease prevalence has experienced a slight decline in recent years, it remains the leading cause of death in the United States for both men and women. It’s important to keep cholesterol levels and blood pressure in check to prevent cardiac heart disease.

There are five diseases included in a the broader category of chronic diseases: cardiac heart disease, high cholesterol, heart attack, stroke and hypertension (high blood pressure). These diseases are long-term illnesses that many individuals can manage through lifestyle changes and healthcare interventions. However, they do place a burden on many of the affected individuals by constraining options and activities available to them and can result in expensive and ongoing expenditures for health care.

All measures are self-reported by respondents to the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System.

Resources for heart and vascular diseases are at National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute as well as at the Division for Heart Disease and Stroke Prevention, CDC.