Heart illnesses remain the leading cause of death in the US, as many of the risk factors that contribute to them, such as high blood pressure and obesity, remain on the rise. This is evident from the annual statistics of the American Cardiology Society for 2025, published in Circulation magazine.

Today in the US every 34 seconds a person dies of cardiovascular disease, almost 2,500 people daily.

Heart disease is the first main cause of deathwhile the strokes are Thursday. Cardiovascular disease, including heart disease and strokes, kill more people in the US from all forms of cancer (second cause of death) and deaths from accidents (third cause of death) together.

According to the relevant data, in 2022 (the latest year for which there is definitive data) the total number of deaths associated with cardiovascular disease in the US was 941,652, an increase of more than 10,000 of 931,578 deaths in 2021. However, the A total number of deaths associated with cardiovascular disease appears to be normalized after a significant rise during the Covid pandemic.

It is estimated that almost the 47% of adults in the US have high blood pressuremore than 72% have unhealthy weight (defined as a body mass index above 25), and almost 42% have obesitythat is, body mass index above 30. Above half adults in the US have type 2 diabetes or predict.

The appearance of these risk factors is also increased in young people: 20% of children in the US have obesity.

Encouraging, on the other hand, is the fact that the use of tobacco, considered one of the main causes of death that can be prevented, is steadily decreasing both between adults and young people. It is estimated that 11.5% of adults in the US smoke. About 28% of high school students reported in 2023 that they never used any tobacco product compared to 16.5% in 2022. A downward trend among young people show the use of electronic cigarettes with 10% of high school students reporting current use electronic cigarette in 2023 compared to 14.1% in 2022.

Another positive trend observed is a decrease in high cholesterol rates over the years, which is likely to be partly due to increased awareness of the nutrition and lifestyle that affects cholesterol levels, in conjunction with the availability of drugs and the best clinical check.