Cardiovascular Deaths measures the three-year average, age-adjusted number of deaths attributed to cardiovascular diseases, including but not limited to heart disease and stroke, per 100,000 population. Ranks are based on the most recently available 3 years of data from the National Center for Health Statistics and CDC.The rates are age-adjusted using NCHS’s bridged-race estimates of the July 1 resident population from the 2008 county-level postcensal series.

 

Cardiovascular deaths are an indication of the toll cardiovascular disease places on the population. In the United States, heart disease and stroke are currently the leading and fourth leading causes of death, respectively[1]. Cardiovascular disease accounts for 17% of medical spending, 30% of Medicare spending and totals nearly $150 billion annually[2]. Cardiovascular disease is influenced by a long list of modifiable risk factors; smoking, hypertension, hypercholesterolemia, diabetes, low levels of physical activity, poor diet, and obesity[3]. Influencing one or more of these risk factors has the potential to greatly decrease the burden of cardiovascular disease. An initiative to reduce this burden, Million Hearts, aims to prevent one million heart attacks and strokes by 2017.[4]. Additional information on the initiative is available at http://millionhearts.hhs.gov/.