Heart Disease Deaths in the Far West U.S.

Heart disease is the leading cause of death in America, totaling over 659,000 deaths in 2019, or about 23% of all U.S. deaths that year.  With improvements in medical knowledge and know-how, the heart disease death rate dropped nearly 23% from 1999 to 2019. At 259.9 deaths per 100,000 population in 1999, by 2019 the heart disease death rate had dropped to 200.8 deaths per 100,000 population.  That said, the heart disease death rate in the U.S. has been inching higher since the middle of the last decade.  The national experience with heart disease deaths was mirrored in the six-state Far West region of the country, which also saw a 23% decline in its heart disease death rate from 1999 to 2019.  With a heart disease death rate that was 19% lower than the national average, the Far West's heart disease death rate was lower than any other region of the country, other than the Rocky Mountain region.  A closer study of data from the National Center for Health Statistics reveals the following about the trend in heart disease deaths in the Far West U.S.:

Heart Disease Deaths in the Far West U.S.

Area/Deaths	1999	2009	2019
AK	563	714	843
CA	71,930	59,206	62,394
HI	2,410	2,363	2,503
NV	4,231	4,687	6,864
OR	7,263	6,262	7,128
WA	11,515	10,561	11,862
Region	97,912	83,793	91,594
U.S.	725,192	599,413	659,041
Area/Death Rate*	1999	2009	2019
AK	90.1	102.2	115.2
CA	214.7	160.2	157.9
HI	199.1	175.5	176.8
NV	218.7	174.6	222.8
OR	214.0	164.4	169.0
WA	197.1	158.4	155.8
Region	210.5	160.6	161.9
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