Every year just under 1 million Americans have a heart attack.

 

 

 

 

 

Source:
American Heart Association,
A report from the American Heart Association Statistics Committee and Stroke Statistics Subcommittee. Heart Disease and Stroke Statistics - 2-6 Update.
Circulation 2006;113:e85-e151

 

 

 

 

 

¹ About a quarter of men and over a third of women who have a heart attack die within a year.

 

 

 

 

 

Source:
American Heart Association,
A report from the American Heart Association Statistics Committee and Stroke Statistics Subcommittee. Heart Disease and Stroke Statistics - 2-6 Update.
Circulation 2006;113:e85-e151

 

 

 

 

 

¹ Women are less likely to live through a heart attack because they are older when they have one.

The older you get, the greater your chance of having a heart attack.

 

 

 

 

 

Source:
American Heart Association,
A report from the American Heart Association Statistics Committee and Stroke Statistics Subcommittee. Heart Disease and Stroke Statistics - 2-6 Update.
Circulation 2006;113:e85-e151

 

 

 

 

 

¹ And if you are a man, you are twice as likely as a women to have a heart attack.

 

 

 

 

 

Source:
American Heart Association,
A report from the American Heart Association Statistics Committee and Stroke Statistics Subcommittee. Heart Disease and Stroke Statistics - 2-6 Update.
Circulation 2006;113:e85-e151

 

 

 

 

 

¹

Many people who have heart attacks also have coronary heart disease, a common condition that is the leading cause of death among adults in the United States. You get coronary heart disease when your

 

 

 

 

 

coronary arteries
Coronary arteries are the vessels that supply blood to the heart muscle. If yours are blocked, you may have a pain in your chest (known as angina) or a heart attack because parts of the heart are not getting enough blood and oxygen.

 

 

 

 

 

coronary arteries get narrower. (These arteries supply your heart with blood.) Nearly half of all American men over 40 and one-third of all American women will develop heart disease.

 

 

 

 

 

Source:
American Heart Association,
A report from the American Heart Association Statistics Committee and Stroke Statistics Subcommittee. Heart Disease and Stroke Statistics - 2-6 Update.
Circulation 2006;113:e85-e151

 

 

 

 

 

¹

Heart attacks are almost as common as they were 10 years ago. But each year, more people live through them. Researchers think this is because treatments are getting better.

 

 

 

 

 

Source:
Rosamund WD, Chambless LE, Folsom A R, et al.
Trends in the incidence of myocardial infarction and in mortality due to coronary artery disease 1987 to 1994.
New England Journal of Medicine. 1998; 339: 861-867.

 

 

 

 

 

² But there may be other reasons, too. The heart attacks that people have today seem to cause less damage to hearts than they did in the past. Researchers think this is because people's arteries are in better shape these days thanks to lifestyle changes. For example, fewer people smoke cigarettes now.

Research also shows that if you've had one heart attack, you are less likely than ever before to have another.

 

 

 

 

 

Source:
Rosamund WD, Chambless LE, Folsom A R, et al.
Trends in the incidence of myocardial infarction and in mortality due to coronary artery disease 1987 to 1994.
New England Journal of Medicine. 1998; 339: 861-867.

 

 

 

 

 

²

 

 

 

 

 

Source:
Tavazzi L
Clinical epidemiology of acute myocardial infarction.
American Heart Journal. 1999; 138: 48-54.

 

 

 

 

 

³ Treatments to keep people from having another heart attack are getting better all the time.

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