More Than Half of U.S. Adults Don't Know Heart Disease Is Leading Cause of Death

This release announces the 2024 Heart Disease and Stroke Statistics update and surfaces a striking finding alongside it: in a Harris Poll of 6,077 US adults conducted November 2023, only 49% correctly identified heart disease as the leading cause of death. One in six said they didn’t know.

The statistical backdrop makes this ignorance consequential. Heart disease has been the leading cause of death in the US for 100 consecutive years — since 1921. In 2021, cardiovascular disease claimed 931,578 American lives — roughly 2,552 deaths per day, one every 34 seconds. Nearly half of all US adults (48.6%) have some form of cardiovascular disease, including 46.7% with high blood pressure. Of those with hypertension, 38% are unaware of it. The age-adjusted CVD death rate increased 4% year-over-year, and high blood pressure mortality has risen 65.6% over the past decade.

The 2024 update adds “Global” to its title for the first time, reflecting expanded international data. Cardiovascular disease caused approximately 19.91 million deaths worldwide in 2021 — 27% of all global deaths. Heart disease and stroke together claim more US lives than all cancers and chronic respiratory disease combined.

Some long-run trends are positive. CVD death rates have fallen 60% since 1950. Cigarette smoking has dropped from over 40% of adults in the mid-1960s to roughly 11% today. Survival after heart attack has improved from one in two deaths in the 1950s to roughly one in 8.5 today.

The data source is robust: national vital statistics from 2021, validated Harris Poll methodology (n=6,077, ±1.5% margin), annual reporting since 1927. The awareness gap finding is independently alarming — a disease this prevalent, this lethal, and this treatable deserves recognition as such.

We rate the evidence strong. The 2024 AHA Statistical Update, documenting that heart disease has killed more Americans than any other cause for 100 consecutive years while more than half of US adults are unaware of this, establishes the foundational epidemiological context for cardiovascular disease prevention efforts.