Heart Risks Rise, Care Lags: New Stats Expose Harsh Truths

METHODOLOGY:

They pooled data from nationally representative surveys, administrative claims, Medicare databases, clinical registries, death records, and published studies.
The population comprised US adults (primarily aged ≥ 20 years) of both sexes and all racial or ethnic groups across urban and rural areas.
Researchers examined data on risk factors between 2009 and 2023, and mortality analyses used data spanning multiple decades.
The report focused on five key risk factors (hypertension, diabetes, obesity, high levels of low-density lipoprotein [LDL] cholesterol, and cigarette smoking) and five major cardiovascular conditions (coronary heart disease, acute myocardial infarction [MI], heart failure, peripheral artery disease [PAD], and stroke).

Hypertension was present in about 1 in 2 US adults (as per the 2017 American College of Cardiology/American Heart Association threshold), with little net change noted from 2009 to 2023 when the older definition was used. Diabetes became more common, and diabetes-related deaths rose, especially among younger and low‑income adults. Obesity affected 40.1% of adults.
Most high-risk adults failed to meet LDL cholesterol targets, and statins remained underused. Cigarette smoking rates declined from 20.3% to 14.5% between 2009 and 2023 but remained roughly twice as common among low-income adults. E-cigarette use rose among younger people.
Coronary heart disease affected more than 20.5 million adults, with increased rates after 2019. Only about half of eligible patients received optimal medical therapy. Hospitalizations for acute MI reduced between 2004 and 2010 and then plateaued, with recent increases among younger adults.
Heart failure affected about 6.7 million adults. Deaths related to heart failure reduced through 2011, but the trend reversed and rose sharply during the COVID period. PAD rates increased, and nearly half of patients who received peripheral vascular interventions were discharged without full guideline-directed medical therapy.
Stroke accounted for nearly 1 in 20 deaths. The quality of in-hospital care for stroke improved over two decades, but gaps in timely treatment and wide disparities persisted.

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