Heart Disease Deaths in the Mid-East Region

Heart disease is the leading cause of death in America, accounting for just over 659,000 deaths in 2019, or about 23% of all deaths in the U.S. that year.  With advances in medical knowledge, the incidence of death by heart disease has dropped considerably over the past twenty years, from 259.9 deaths per 100,000 population in 1999 to 200.8 deaths per 100,000 population in 2019.  That said, the heart disease death rate nationally has been creeping higher since the middle of the last decade.  The national experience with heart disease deaths is mirrored in the Mid-East region of the country.  While the heart disease death rate in the Mid-East region declined from 1999 to 2019, it did so to a greater extent than did most of the nation.  Whereas the region had a heart disease death rate per 100,000 population that was about 17% higher than the nation as a whole in 1999, by 2019 the Mid-East's heart disease death rate had dropped to only 12% above the national average.  A closer examination of data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Health Statistics, reveals the following about the trend in heart disease deaths in the Mid-East region of the country:

Heart Disease Deaths in the Mid-East Region

Area/Deaths	1999	2009	2019
DE	2,011	1,796	2,053
DC	1,652	1,288	1,187
MD	12,080	11,210	11,770
NJ	23,493	18,086	18,716
NY	58,987	47,283	43,806
PA	41,707	32,297	32,299
Region	139,930	111,960	109,831
U.S.	725,192	599,413	659,041
Area/Death Rate*	1999	2009	2019
DE	259.5	201.4	210.8
DC	289.7	217.5	168.2
MD	229.9	195.6	194.7
NJ	281.0	206.6	210.7
NY	312.4	244.9	225.2
PA	340.1	255.0	252.3
Region	303.5	233.5	224.8
U.S.	259.9	195.4	200.8

(*) number of heart disease deaths per 100,000 population

Source: CDC Wonder. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Health Statistics. Underlying Cause of Death 1999-2019 on CDC WONDER Online Database, released in 2020. Data are from the Multiple Cause of Death Files, 1999-2019, as compiled from data provided by the 57 vital statistics jurisdictions through the Vital Statistics Cooperative Program. Accessed on June 9, 2021