Coronary Heart Disease and Angina Pectoris

(Source: American Heart Association)

• Heart attack is the single largest killer of males and females in the developed world.
• This year as many as 1,500,000 Americans will have a new or recurrent heart attack, and about one-third of them will die.
• At least 250,000 people a year die of heart attack within one hour of the onset of symptoms and before they reach a hospital. These are sudden deaths caused by cardiac arrest, usually resulting from ventricular fibrillation.
• 13,670,000 people alive today have a history of heart attack, angina pectoris (chest pain) or both. This breaks down to 6,930,000 males and 6,750,000 females.
• Studies show that the risk of death from heart disease is much greater for the least-educated than for the most-educated people.
• From 1984 to 1994, the death rate from heart attack declined 28.6 percent, but the actual number of deaths declined only 9.9 percent.

Age, Gender

• Based on the Framingham Heart Study, five percent of all heart attacks occur in people under age 40, and 45 percent occur in people under age 65.
• 84.6 percent of people who die of heart attack are age 65 or older.
• About 80 percent of coronary heart disease mortality in people under age 65 occurs during the first attack.
• In 48 percent of men and 63 percent of women who died suddenly of coronary heart disease, there were no previous symptoms of this disease.
• 1993 coronary heart disease final mortality: male deaths -- 250,362 (51.1 percent of deaths from coronary heart disease); female deaths -- 239,701 (48.9 percent of deaths from coronary heart disease).
• The Cardiovascular Health Study showed the prevalence of myocardial infarction in older American men was 18.0 percent for ages 65 -- 69 and 29.6 percent for ages 80 -- 84. The prevalence in older women was 9.7 percent for ages 65 -- 69 and 17.9 percent for age 85 and older.

After an Attack

• At older ages, women who have heart attacks are more likely than men to die from them within a few weeks.
• Sudden death occurs at from four to six times the rate of the general population among people who've had a heart attack.
• 27 percent of men and 44 percent of women will die within one year after having a heart attack.
• 1,219,000 males and 899,000 females diagnosed with coronary heart disease were discharged from hospitals in 1994.

Angina Pectoris

Estimates are that 7,120,000 people in the United States have angina pectoris (chest pain). This breaks down to 2,860,000 males and 4,290,000 females. A small number of deaths are coded as being from angina pectoris. These are included as a portion of total deaths from coronary heart disease.

• Based on the Framingham Heart Study, about 350,000 new cases of angina occur each year.
• The estimated prevalence of angina is greater in women than in men.
• About 68,000 males and 84,000 females diagnosed with angina pectoris were discharged from hospitals in 1994.
• The Cardiovascular Health Study showed the prevalence of angina pectoris in older men was 21.1 percent for ages 65 -- 69 and 27.3 percent for ages 80 -- 84. For older women the prevalence was 13.7 percent for ages 65 -- 69 and 24.7 percent for age 85 and over.