Rheumatic Heart Disease

· Almost one out of every 2.7 deaths results from cardiovascular disease.
Rheumatic heart disease/rheumatic fever kills 3,554 Americans each year. Almost one out of every 2.7 deaths results from cardiovascular disease. Since 1900, cardiovascular disease has been the leading cause of death in every year but one - 1918. More than 2,600 Americans die of cardiovascular disease each day, an average of one death every 33 seconds. Cardiovascular disease is the cause of more deaths than the next seven causes of death combined. It is a myth that heart disease is a man's disease. In fact, cardiovascular diseases are the number one killer of women (and men). These diseases currently claim the lives of nearly a half a million females every year. In 1999, approximately one-third (33 percent) of cardiovascular disease deaths occurred prematurely (before age 75, the approximate average life expectancy in that year). The cost of cardiovascular diseases and stroke in 2002 is estimated at $329.2 billion. Stroke killed 167,366 people in 1999 - on average, someone in the US suffers a stroke every 53 seconds; someone dies every 3 minutes from stroke. Stroke is a leading cause of serious, long-term disability that accounts for more than half of all patients hospitalized for a neurological disease. Stroke deaths have been increasing in recent days.

·At least 71 million people in this country suffer from some form of heart disease.
·One person in four suffers from some form of cardiovascular disease, including:
high blood pressure - 65,000,000
coronary heart disease - 13,000,000
angina pectoris - 6,400,000
myocardial infarction (heart attack) - 7,500,000
stroke - 5,400,000
congenital cardiovascular defects - 1,000,000
congestive heart failure - 5,000,000
·Rheumatic heart disease / rheumatic fever kills 3,554 Americans each year.


myLot User Profile