As fewer Americans die from heart attacks, more succumb to chronic heart disease
In 1970, someone over the age of 65 hospitalized for a heart attack in the United States had about a 60% chance of leaving the hospital alive. Today, the survival rate is over 90%, with even better outcomes for younger patients.
Those numbers have contributed to a remarkable decrease in the likelihood of dying from any type of heart disease over the last 50 years, according to a new study of heart disease mortality led by Stanford Medicine researchers. In 1970, 41% of all deaths were attributed to ailments of the heart; in 2022, that statistic had dropped to 24% of all deaths.
Most strikingly, the proportion ...