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Cardiovascular Disease Will Impact More Than Half of Us by 2050

By Alexandra Zendrian | Posted Jul 18, 2024

High blood pressure rates are bumping up the number of people with this issue.

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The American Heart Association (AHA) has forecasted what cardiovascular disease in our country will look like in about 25 years and that future gives many of us something in common – cardiovascular disease (CVD). In fact, by 2050, the AHA anticipates 61 percent of American adults will have CVD. 

 

What is leading to these affected hearts? Some trends are coming together in non-beneficial ways, but mostly the marked increase in people developing high blood pressure, which puts people at greater risk of having a stroke or heart attack. 

 

The Current State of the Heart

 

Heart disease is the leading killer of Americans with 800,000 people dying as a result of it. This has been the biggest cause of death for the last 100 years.

 

Twenty eight million Americans had CVD or a stroke in 2020, which is projected to rise to 45 million in 2050. 

 

Troubling Trends Converging

 

The American population is getting older; as they age, they are more apt to have heart issues.  Twenty two percent of Americans are slated to be over the age of 65 by 2050.

 

There is also greater diversity in the American population; people of color are disproportionately impacted by heart ailments. In fact, Hispanic people are anticipated to have the largest increase of CVD or stroke. 

 

Currently, Black adults experience to the greatest degree many of the CVD risk factors including diabetes, high blood pressure and obesity. 

What Can Be Done to Prevent This?

While this forecast may seem like all doom and gloom,  it doesn’t have to come to fruition. To try to mitigate these risks of heart disease, Americans can work on keeping their diet and exercise regimen in as good a state as possible. Those are two areas that people do have at least somewhat in their control.