Since 1970, heart attack deaths have fallen almost 90 per cent in the US, though deaths from chronic heart conditions have significantly risen
By Grace Wade
25 June 2025
Bystander CPR training may have contributed to fewer heart attack deaths in the past five decades
piyamas dulmunsumphun / Alamy Stock Photo
Deaths from heart attacks have plummeted in the US over the past 50 years, whereas deaths from chronic heart conditions have skyrocketed, probably due to people living longer.
“We’ve made some really great progress in certain areas of heart disease mortality, but now we’re seeing this shift,” says Sara King at Stanford University in California.
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She and her colleagues collected data on heart disease deaths from 1970 to 2022 using the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s WONDER database, which tracks all recorded fatalities in the country.
They found that in 2022, heart disease accounted for 24 per cent of all deaths in the US, down from 41 per cent in 1970. The decline is largely thanks to an almost 90 per cent decrease in heart attack deaths, which were once the deadliest form of heart disease.
“Incredible progress has been made to reduce deaths from heart attacks over the last 50 years,” says King. This includes new therapies such as heart stents, coronary artery bypass surgery and cholesterol-lowering medications. Public health measures, such as bystander CPR training and efforts to lower smoking rates, have also probably helped, says King.