MI Deaths Fall, Chronic Cardiac Issues Bigger Worry Now

TOPLINE:

Between 1970 and 2022, a marked decline was observed in age-adjusted mortality from ischemic heart disease, including acute myocardial infarction (AMI) and chronic ischemic heart disease. However, deaths from heart failure, hypertensive heart disease, and arrhythmias increased substantially.

METHODOLOGY:

• Heart disease has remained the leading cause of death in the US for more than a century; studying the trends in mortality can guide better management and intervention.
• Researchers examined long-term trends in mortality from heart diseases among US adults aged 25 years or older from 1970 through 2022, using data compiled from the National Vital Statistics System through the CDC Wide-ranging Online Data for Epidemiologic Research database.
• Multiple versions of the International Classification of Diseases codes were used to identify deaths from ischemic heart disease, including AMI, chronic ischemic heart disease, as well as other heart diseases.
• Annual age-adjusted rates of mortality were calculated using the 2000 US Census population as the standard population.

TAKEAWAY:

• Overall, age-adjusted mortality from all heart diseases declined by 66%, from 761 to 258 deaths per 100,000 individuals from 1970 to 2022.
• Age-adjusted mortality from ischemic heart disease declined overall by 81% during the study period, with an 89% decrease for AMI and a 71% decrease for chronic ischemic heart disease.
• In contrast, age-adjusted mortality from other cardiac issues increased by 81% during the same period.
• The greatest increases in age-adjusted mortality were observed for heart failure (146%), hypertensive heart disease (106%), and arrhythmias (450%).

IN PRACTICE:

“These changes in heart disease mortality over the past five decades likely reflect the successes in medical and public health interventions for ischemic heart disease, and in particular, acute myocardial infarction,” the authors of the study wrote. 

“People now are surviving these acute events, so they have the opportunity to develop these other heart conditions,” the lead author said in a press release.

SOURCE:

This study was led by Sara J. King, MD, medical resident, Stanford University School of Medicine in Stanford, California. It was published online on June 25, 2025, in Journal of the American Heart Association.

LIMITATIONS:

Using multiple versions of the international coding system for classifying diseases may have introduced miscoding and inconsistencies. The codes may not precisely distinguish certain conditions with underlying ischemic etiologies, particularly cardiac arrest and ventricular arrhythmias. This study did not establish whether specific interventions caused the observed trends in mortality.

DISCLOSURES:

Three authors reported receiving grants and funding from sources, including the NIH National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, the American Heart Association/Harold Amos Medical Faculty Development program, and the Doris Duke Foundation. One author reported serving on the advisory board for Care Access and receiving personal consulting fees from several pharmaceutical and healthcare companies. Several authors reported receiving consulting fees, grants, and equity from multiple such companies.

This article was created using several editorial tools, including AI, as part of the process. Human editors reviewed this content before publication.