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Every year just under 1 million Americans have a heart attack.¹ About a quarter of men and over a third of women who have a heart attack die within a year.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.¹ And if you are a man, you are twice as likely as a women to have a heart attack.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 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.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.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.^{2 3} Treatments to keep people from having another heart attack are getting better all the time.