Wellness

Heart Failure Statistics

  • Nearly 5 million Americans are currently living with congestive heart failure (CHF).
  • Approximately 550,000 new cases are diagnosed in the U.S. each year.
  • Congestive heart failure affects people of all ages, from children and young adults to the middle-aged and the elderly.
  • Almost 1.4 million persons with CHF are under 60 years of age.
  • CHF is present in 2 percent of persons age 40 to 59.
  • More than 5 percent of persons age 60 to 69 have CHF.
  • CHF annual incidence approaches 10 per 1,000 population after 65 years of age.
  • The incidence of CHF is equally frequent in men and women, and African-Americans are 1.5 times more likely to develop heart failure than Caucasians.
  • Heart failure is responsible for 11 million physician visits each year, and more hospitalizations than all forms of cancer combined.
  • CHF is the first-listed diagnosis in 875,000 hospitalizations, and the most common diagnosis in hospital patients age 65 years and older.
  • In that age group, one-fifth of all hospitalizations have a primary or secondary diagnosis of heart failure.
  • More than half of those who develop CHF die within 5 years of diagnosis.
  • Heart failure contributes to approximately 287,000 deaths a year.
  • Sudden death is common in patients with CHF, occurring at a rate of six to nine times that of the general population.
  • Deaths from heart failure have decreased on average by 12 percent per decade for women and men over the past fifty years.

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