New AHA statistics have shown that cardiovascular disease caused one-third of U.S. deaths in 2013.
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Kathy Adams | Jan 24, 2016

AHA statistics show cardiovascular disease causes one-third of U.S. deaths

New statistics released by the American Heart Association (AHA) show that one out of every three 2013 deaths in the U.S. was caused by stroke, heart disease or other cardiovascular diseases.

Heart disease and stroke are the top two causes of death worldwide, according to the AHA's 2016 Heart Disease and Stroke Statistics Update.

The statistics report has been released annually for more than 40 years, culling data from the AHA, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the National Institutes of Health and other government sources.

"Statistics about cardiovascular disease and stroke -- and particularly the metrics about death and the factors that contribute to cardiovascular disease -- are incredibly important," AHA President Dr. Mark Creager said.

Creager is also the director of the heart and vascular center at the Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center in Lebanon, New Hampshire.

Statistics in the report show that more than 800,000 people in the U.S. died from cardiovascular diseases in 2013. During that time frame, heart disease claimed 370,000 lives, while strokes claimed nearly 129,000.

According to the report, 48 percent of African-American women and 46 percent of African-American men have some form of cardiovascular disease.

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