Coronary heart disease Facts

Coronary heart disease remains the No. 1 single cause of death in the United States for both men and women. Nearly half a million Americans die of coronary heart disease each year, and about half of these deaths are women. Preventing coronary heart disease remains the leading challenge to biomedical researchers and public health workers today. About every 26 seconds an American will suffer a coronary event, and about every minute someone will die from one. This year an estimated 1.2 million Americans will have a new or recurrent coronary attack, and about 41 percent of people who experience a coronary attack in a given year, die from it.

At the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) and the American Heart Association (AHA), we are committed to addressing this challenge by encouraging fundamental research on the causes and treatment of coronary heart disease and by strengthening our disease prevention and health promotion programs. We've seen a dramatic decline in coronary heart disease mortality during the past two decades. This has been accompanied by a growing interest in making lifestyle changes that can reduce the risks for coronary heart disease.

With prevention as our ultimate goal, communicating health information to the public will continue to be an important part of our activities. We've long provided the public with educational materials to help reduce three primary risk factors: high blood pressure, cigarette smoking and high blood cholesterol. In recent years, the NHLBI and the AHA have addressed another major risk factor — sedentary lifestyle, or physical inactivity. The results of various studies now show that regular physical activity can help reduce the risk of heart disease. It also can help control other contributing risk factors, including obesity and diabetes. We hope that this information will help to stimulate a sensible physical activity program as one way of keeping a healthy heart.

We're delighted to join together to provide this message about physical activity. We believe that collaboration is one important way of performing common public health missions and furthering this ongoing partnership.