Heart Attack Deaths Drop, but Other Heart Risks Climb

Mortality rates from all other types of heart disease — heart failure, hypertensive heart disease and arrhythmia — went up 81 percent between 1970 and 2022, the study found. These conditions made up 9 percent of all deaths in 1970 and 47 percent of heart disease deaths in 2022.

Specifically, deaths from heart failure rose 146 percent over the 52-year span. Mortality from hypertensive heart disease increased by 106 percent, and deaths from arrhythmias soared by 450 percent during the same time frame, according to the report.

What’s behind the shift? 

The study didn’t look at the cause behind the growth in deaths from the three subtypes of heart disease, says Sara King, M.D., study author and an internal medicine resident in the Department of Medicine at Stanford School of Medicine. “We do know that the U.S. population is aging,” she says, and heart disease risk increases with age. It makes sense, then, that as more people survive heart attacks, they will develop other heart health issues. Also, a person’s heart can be weakened and develop heart failure as a result of a heart attack, King notes.

But it’s not just age, experts say. “Certainly age is a major risk factor for heart disease,” says Ashish Sarraju, M.D., a preventive cardiologist at the Cleveland Clinic. “But we also are seeing a rise in cardiometabolic risk factors, particularly obesity and diabetes, so we shouldn’t write everything off to age alone.”

Indeed, cardiovascular risk factors such as hypertension, obesity and type 2 diabetes, which contribute to heart issues, have gone up, the study’s authors said in a statement. Obesity prevalence increased from 15 percent to 40 percent over the course of the study.

“There is an aspect of decreased exercise that probably influences this as well,” David J. Callans, M.D., a cardiologist at Penn Medicine, told AARP in an email.

Meanwhile, advances in prevention and measures to improve early diagnosis and treatment have contributed to the drop in heart attack deaths and overall heart disease deaths, experts say. Some advancements that have changed the game, according to the scientists: coronary angiography and stenting, statins, high-sensitivity diagnostics to improve the rapid diagnosis of heart attacks, and antiplatelet agents to reduce clotting and restore blood flow to the heart. Smoke-free policies, a greater push for exercise and updated guidelines on cholesterol management and blood pressure have also helped heart health on the whole, the study’s authors wrote.

Better heart attack management has led to increased survivorship, though survivors can still experience chronic heart conditions.

Lower your risks

Many heart disease deaths are preventable, said Keith Churchwell, M.D., the American Heart Association volunteer president, in a statement. For instance, managing your weight, cholesterol and blood pressure; getting enough sleep; and exercising regularly can lower your risk of developing and dying from heart disease.

“We’ve won major battles against heart attacks; however, the war against heart disease isn’t over,” King said in a statement. “We now need to tackle heart failure and other chronic conditions that affect people as they age.”

And the good news for older adults: “It is never too late to modify lifestyle habits, that is, to switch to heart-healthy dietary patterns and increase exercise,” Sarraju says.

Working with your doctor is also key to stay on top of your risk factors or any heart ailments, King says.

“Be connected with your primary care doctor,” King suggests. “And if you do have a heart condition, with your cardiologist.”