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Men and Heart Disease Fact Sheet

Heart Disease Death Rates for 2000 through 2006 of Adult Men Aged 35 Years and Older by County. The map shows that concentrations of counties with the highest heart disease rates for men - meaning the top quintile - are located in Appalachia, in the southern region of Georgia, throughout Alabama and Oklahoma, and along the Mississippi River Valley.

Source: CDC, Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System.

Heart Disease Facts in Men

Heart disease is the leading cause of death for men in the United States. In 2006, 315,706 men died from it.¹
Heart disease killed 26% of the men who died in 2006—more than one in every four.¹
Heart disease is the leading cause of death for men of most racial/ethnic groups in the United States, including African Americans, American Indians or Alaska Natives, Hispanics, and whites. For Asian American men, heart disease is second only to cancer.²
In 2006, about 9.4% of all white men, 7.8% of black men, and 5.3% of Mexican American men were living with coronary heart disease.³
Half of the men who die suddenly of coronary heart disease have no previous symptoms.3 Even if you have no symptoms, you may still be at risk for heart disease.
Between 70% and 89% of sudden cardiac events occur in men.³

* For this fact sheet, the term "heart disease" refers to several different types of heart conditions. In the United States, the most common type is coronary artery disease, also known as coronary heart disease.

Risk Factors

Nine out of 10 heart disease patients have at least one risk factor.³ Several medical conditions and lifestyle choices can put men at a higher risk for heart disease, including—

High cholesterol
High blood pressure
Diabetes
Cigarette smoking
Overweight and obesity
Poor diet
Physical inactivity
Alcohol use

CDC's Public Health Efforts

CDC's Heart Disease and Stroke Prevention Program
Since 1998, CDC has funded state health departments' efforts to reduce the number of people with heart disease or stroke. Health departments in 41 states and the District of Columbia currently receive funding. The program stresses policy and education to promote heart-healthy and stroke-free living and working conditions.

Men and Heart Disease: An Atlas of Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Mortality
This publication presents national and state maps depicting disparities in county-level heart disease death rates among men in the five largest U.S. racial and ethnic groups. This information can help government agencies and communities tailor prevention policies and programs to areas with the greatest burden of heart disease.

A Public Health Action Plan to Prevent Heart Disease and Stroke
These recommendations—the result of a far-reaching collaboration—help guide the nation's heart disease and stroke prevention efforts. A national forum of experts committed themselves to preventing disease rather than treating it and to transforming public health agencies into effective agents of change. CDC convenes the National Forum for Heart Disease and Stroke Prevention and implements the Plan.

For More Information

For more information on heart disease and among men, visit the following Web sites.

References

Heron MP, Hoyert DL, Murphy SL, Xu JQ, Kochanek KD, Tejada-Vera B. Deaths: Final data for 2006 [PDF–2.3M]. National Vital Statistics Reports; Vol. 57 No. 14. Hyattsville, MD: National Center for Health Statistics. 2009.
Heron MP. Deaths: Leading causes for 2004 [PDF–3.2M]. National Vital Statistics Reports; Vol. 56 No. 5. Hyattsville, MD: National Center for Health Statistics. 2007.
Lloyd-Jones D, Adams RJ, Brown TM, et al. Heart Disease and Stroke Statistics—2010 Update. A Report from the American Heart Association Statistics Committee and Stroke Statistics Subcommittee. Circulation. 2010;121:e1-e170.