For more than 70 years, cardiovascular disease has reigned as America’s leading killer. That’s true for men, women, and the majority of the nation’s racial and ethnic groups, and it remained the case even during the COVID-19 pandemic. In fact, deaths due to heart disease spiked in 2020 across all groups, claiming 697,000 lives—one every 34 seconds—and reversing years of meaningful progress the U.S. had made in managing the disease.
Those increased rates, thought to be driven by delays in care, poorer diet and exercise habits during the pandemic, and increased risk for some after a COVID-19 infection, make painfully clear the importance of good, timely care for the millions of individuals living with a form of heart disease. The American Heart Association estimated that between 2015-2018 that group included 127 million people, and that the total costs of the disease were $378 billion between 2017-2018.
