Between 1990 and 2019, the United States saw a major drop in deaths caused by heart disease. In 1990, heart disease led to the deaths of 397,623 people.
By 2019, that number had dropped to 236,953. This is a big improvement in the fight against a leading cause of death.
What makes this even more impressive is that Americans, on average, were older in 2019 than they were in 1990.
Usually, an aging population means more health problems, but heart disease deaths still went down.
There are several reasons to celebrate this trend. First, both men and women were more likely to survive heart disease than in the past. Year after year, fewer people were dying from it. One big reason for this is the sharp drop in smoking. In 1990, about 26% of Americans smoked. By 2019, only 14% did.
But there are also reasons to be concerned. Around 2011, the speed at which heart disease deaths were dropping began to slow. Even more worrying, people born after 1980 now seem to be at higher risk of developing heart disease.
Researchers have looked at the reasons behind these changes. One major factor is obesity. In 1990, 12% of Americans were obese. By 2019, that number had jumped to 43%. Obesity is a known risk factor for heart disease. Alcohol use also rose slightly during this time, which may have played a role.
This research was led by Cande Ananth, who studied large sets of health data to understand what’s happening. The team wants to find out who is most at risk for heart disease so they can come up with ways to help those people. They believe it may not be useful or affordable to test everyone. Instead, they want to focus on people who need help the most.
Next, the researchers are planning to look at heart disease risks in pregnant women. What they learn could help improve heart health across the country.
If you care about heart health, there are other studies worth checking out. Some have looked at the best time to take vitamins to help your heart. Others have explored how COVID-19 affects the heart.
There’s also research on how aspirin might raise the risk of heart failure, and how some medicines might help lower the risk of heart disease, fatty liver, and obesity.
This study, published in the American Heart Journal, shows both how far we’ve come and the work we still need to do to fight heart disease. It also proves that small changes—like quitting smoking—can have a big impact on public health.
If you care about heart health, please read studies about Scientists find root cause of heart rhythm disorders and findings of Warning signal from the kidneys can predict future heart failure risk.
For more information about heart health, please read studies about Scientists find a surprising link between alcohol drinking and heart health and findings of Both blood pressure numbers can predict heart disease risk.
Copyright © 2025 Knowridge Science Report. All rights reserved.
