Wednesday, September 22, 2021

Heart Disease Deaths in the Southeastern U.S.

Heart disease is the foremost cause of death in the U.S., accounting for more than 659,000 deaths in 2019, or approximately 23% of all deaths in the United States that year.  Despite its top position, the nation's heart disease death rate has dropped since the late 1990s thanks to advancements in medical knowledge and technology. From its 1999 level of 259.9 deaths per 100,000 population, the heart disease death rate had dropped to 200.8 deaths per 100,000 population by 2019, a decline of nearly 23%.  The twelve-state Southeastern U.S. saw its heart disease death rate drop about 22% in the twenty years from 1999, a slightly smaller improvement than the country as a whole. In both 1999 and 2019, the region's heart disease death rate was slightly worse than the national average.  A deeper look into data from the National Center for Health Statistics, a unit of the CDC, reveals the following about the trend in heart disease deaths in the Southeastern U.S. region:

Heart Disease Deaths in the Southeastern U.S.
Heart Disease Deaths in the Southeastern U.S.

Area/Deaths 1999 2009 2019
AL 13,419 12,021 13,448
AR 8,315 7,295 8,669
FL 51,434 41,274 47,144
GA 17,597 16,165 19,543
KY 12,098 9,728 10,742
LA 12,007 10,169 11,302
MS 9,336 7,530 7,997
NC 19,191 17,203 19,617
SC 9,981 9,068 10,579
TN 16,280 14,257 16,814
VA 15,329 13,397 15,062
WV 6,822 5,038 5,087
Region 191,809 163,145 186,004
U.S. 725,192 599,413 659,041
Area/Death Rate* 1999 2009 2019
AL 302.9 252.7 274.3
AR 313.6 251.8 287.3
FL 326.4 221.3 219.5
GA 218.7 168.0 184.1
KY 301.1 225.3 240.4
LA 269.2 226.4 243.1
MS 330.1 254.5 268.7
NC 241.4 182.1 187.0
SC 251.1 197.6 205.5
TN 288.7 226.1 246.2
VA 219.0 169.0 176.5
WV 376.5 272.7 283.8
Region 279.7 209.7 219.1
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

No comments:

Post a Comment

Let us know what you think about today's commentary!