High Blood Pressure and Cholesterol High Blood Pressure and Cholesterol
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

Every 39 seconds, an adult dies from a cardiovascular disease such as a heart attack or stroke. Cardiovascular disease claims the lives of more than 800,000 adults each year, 150,000 of whom are under the age of 65. Learn what you can do to reduce your risk.

For American Heart Month, the February edition of CDC Vital Signs focuses on cardiovascular disease and what we can do to increase control of high blood pressure and cholesterol — reducing the number of heart attacks, strokes, and other cardiovascular diseases in the United States.

Highlights from the report Cardiovascular diseases kill more than 800,000 adults in the US each year. Of these, 150,000 are younger than age 65. 68 million US adults have high blood pressure. 71 million US adults have high LDL cholesterol. Nearly 2 out of 3 adults with high LDL cholesterol and about half of adults with high blood pressure don’t have their condition under control. Having health insurance is not sufficient to achieve the control Improvements in the way health care is delivered in the US are needed. Common, Deadly and Preventable

Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death in the US. Two main reasons people have cardiovascular disease, such as heart disease or stroke, are high blood pressure and cholesterol, which are common, deadly and preventable. 68 million US adults have high blood pressure and 71 million US adults have high cholesterol. Far too few people have these conditions under control, even if they have health insurance. In fact, more than 80% of people who don’t have their high blood pressure or cholesterol under control already have health insurance, indicating that for most patients, health insurance is not sufficient to achieve control. Clinical services that detect and help control high blood pressure or cholesterol are not being delivered to all those in need. Improvements in the way health care is delivered are needed in order to achieve greater levels of control.