Too Profitable to Prevent: Why cardiovascular disease remains the number one killer

Every 40 seconds an American has a heart attack. For those who receive emergency services, survival to hospital discharge is 10.4%. Of those survivors, 8.4% leave the hospital with good functional status.

Cardiovascular disease (CVD) deaths are on the rise in the US, unlike the decline seen in other industrialized countries. Each minute, more than one person dies from CVD, the leading cause of death for Americans. In 2016, CVD took 840,678 lives, approximately 1 of every 3 deaths. CVD claims more lives each year than all forms of cancer and chronic lower respiratory disease (the 2nd and 3rd most common fatal illnesses) combined.

Nearly half (46%) of adult Americans live with CVD according to the American Heart Association’s Heart and Stroke Statistics –2019 Update. The bill for this state of affairs comes to about $1 billion per day ($351.2 billion in 2014–2015).

CVD is not only the most common cause of death for male and female Americans, it is one of the most preventable diseases.

Incontrovertible research has shown that at least 80% of all CVD can be prevented. This is possible because we know what causes the disease. The leading modifiable (controllable) risk factors and their prevalence (percent of the population) in the…