Heart attack statistics

Heart Attack

Heart attack is also known as the myocardial infarction (MI)or acute myocardial infarction (AMI). This medical condition is causedby sudden interruption of the blood flow to the heart, which leads to the deathof heart cells. Dead heart might affect the health of a personexperiencing the heart attack, and in some cases, be the cause of death.

The cause of heart attack is usually a process calledatherosclerosis. Arteries affected by atherosclerosis starts to accumulate the faton their inner walls, narrowing the passage for the blood over time. When thepressure becomes intolerable, arteries burst, and release certain substancesinto the bloodstream, causing heart attack.

Heart Attack Statistics

According to the statistics, heart attack is one of the leadingcauses of death in the United States (US). The numbers reveal that there are morepeople dying from heart attack every year than from cancers.

Every 20 seconds in the US one person experiences a heartattack and every 34 seconds a person loses their life because of the different heart-relatedproblems.

Every year, about 1.5 million Americans suffer a heartattack, and almost a third of that number die.

Most people experience one, but there is a significantamount of people suffering from the second heart attack - almost half of amillion of Americans experience the second myocardial infarction.

250.000 people die on their way to the hospital. These numberscorrespond with the data from the World Health Organization (WHO), which statesthat 50% of people having the heart attack usually die in an hour of theattack, without time to get proper medical attention. WHO studies revealed thatthe patients who had a heart attack, in 50% of the case were hypertensionpatients, too.

Men and women are different when it comes to the risk of heartattacks. Women under 50 are more likely to die because of the heart attack thanmen of the same age. Also, elderly patients are more prone to this condition. Afterthe age of 75, there are 1000 more chances to suffer from heart attack, than in youngage.

Modern medicine has improved the survival rate of the heartattack patients. It is estimated that every decade or so, there is a decreaseof 12% in deaths caused by myocardial infarction.

Among the US population pain in the chest in quite frequentmedical symptom. Every year, about 6 million of Americans went to the hospitalbecause of this symptom. In most cases, the diagnosis is acardiovascular disease.