Heart Disease and Stroke Deaths Decline but Remain Leading U.S. Killers, New Statistics Show

Heart disease and stroke deaths have declined following a five-year upward trend likely impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, yet together they still kill more people in the United States each year than any other cause. According to data reported in the 2026 Heart Disease and Stroke Statistics: A Report of U.S. and Global Data From the American Heart Association, heart disease remains the leading cause of death for more than a century, accounting for 22% of U.S. deaths in 2023, while stroke has moved up to become the fourth leading cause of death at 5.3%. Combined, these cardiovascular diseases accounted for more than a quarter of all U.S. deaths in 2023, the most recent year for which data is available, claiming more lives than all forms of cancer and accidental deaths combined.

The annual update published in Circulation, the peer-reviewed flagship journal of the American Heart Association, shows overall deaths from heart disease and stroke continue to decline with fewer total deaths and modest improvements in the age-adjusted death rate. In 2023, there were 915,973 total deaths from cardiovascular disease, including heart disease, stroke, hypertension and heart failure, down from 941,652 CVD deaths in 2022. The age-adjusted rate of CVD deaths in 2023 was 218.3 per 100,000 people, compared with 224.3 per 100,000 in 2022. On average, someone died of CVD every 34 seconds in 2023. Coronary heart disease was the underlying cause for 349,470 U.S. deaths in 2023, down from 371,506 deaths in 2022, while stroke was the underlying cause for 162,639 U.S. deaths, down from 165,393 deaths in 2022.

While the total number of stroke deaths dropped for the first time in several years, an increase in stroke deaths among the youngest and oldest populations remains a major health concern. There was an 8.3% increase in the crude stroke death rate among people 25 to 34 years of age between 2013 and 2023, a significant contrast to no increase in that rate between 2012 and 2022. There was also an 18.2% increase in the crude stroke death rate among people older than 85 years of age between 2013 and 2023, up from a 12.1% increase between 2012 and 2022. About half of all U.S. adults continue to have some form of cardiovascular disease, with rates still higher than they were before the pandemic. Persistent increases in common conditions like high blood pressure, diabetes and obesity continue to drive the risk, with about 125.9 million U.S. adults now having high blood pressure, nearly 29.5 million having diagnosed diabetes, and about 50% of U.S. adults having obesity or severe obesity.

For the first time, this year's Statistics Update includes a chapter on cardiovascular-kidney-metabolic syndrome, a health disorder made up of connections between heart disease, kidney disease, diabetes and obesity that leads to poor health outcomes. Data shows nearly 90% of U.S. adults have some level of CKM syndrome and over 80% of U.S. young and middle-aged adults already show early CKM risk. A number of studies cited in the Statistics Update note that following the American Heart Association's Life's Essential 8™ healthy lifestyle guidance can make inroads preventing heart disease and stroke and improving brain health. Life's Essential 8 is a set of four health behaviors and four health factors that are key measures for improving and maintaining cardiovascular health. Those reported findings include that people who had ideal cardiovascular health as measured by Life's Essential 8 had a 74% lower risk of cardiovascular events compared with those who had poor cardiovascular health, and in the United States, optimal Life's Essential 8 scores could prevent up to 40% of annual all-cause and CVD deaths among adults.

Better cardiovascular health was also associated with better brain health including younger brain age, less subclinical vascular disease, slower cognitive decline, and reduced dementia risk. Unfortunately, data continues to show poor adherence to Life's Essential 8 measures, with diet scores being the lowest of the eight measures among adults and youth, only 25.3% of U.S. adults meeting national physical activity guidelines, and less than half of U.S. adults being treated for Type 2 diabetes having their condition under control. The growing prevalence of these health conditions that contribute to stroke and to overall cardiovascular disease continues to be worrisome, with overall projections for these health conditions showing increases expected on nearly every level in the next few decades.