2022 Heart Disease Statistics You Need to Know 

Heart Disease Research Conducted at Nora Eccles Harrison Cardiovascular Research and Training Institute (CVRTI)

Arrhythmias, congestive heart failure, high blood pressure, cardiac arrest are all different types of heart diseases. Some of these can be controlled or prevented through diet, exercise, or medications, but some are sudden and unexpected. Some people are born with heart disease, and some develop heart disease through lifestyle choices. While there are many types and causes of heart disease, it is important to be aware of the symptoms. Heart disease can be a lethal disease, but with treatment, it can be managed. Below are 6 shocking heart disease statistics.

Heart Disease Is The Leading Cause Of Death In The United States

Among men and women from different ethnic and racial groups, heart disease is unfortunately seen among all of them. Data collected from 1999 through 2018 shows heart disease has been the leading cause of death of adults in the United States. To prevent heart disease, it is important to be educated on the signs and symptoms of heart disease and perform routine tests with your doctor.

Every 30 seconds someone in the United States passes away from heart disease

Heart disease can be deadly, especially when diagnosed late. The earlier the diagnosis, the more opportunities to stop or reverse the damage. Emergency rooms and medical professions see patients daily who have various heart disease conditions; some arrive with late stages or untreated heart disease. The best prevention for heart disease is to monitor heart health, control diet, and exercise. Your physician can work with you to develop a comprehensive care plan for heart health.

25% of all deaths in the United States are linked to heart disease

To prevent heart disease and heart disease-related deaths, it is important to notice the symptoms. Symptoms of heart disease include fluttering heart, chest pains, shortness of breath, swelling in lower extremities, upper body discomfort.

Roughly $400 billion is spent on heart disease annually in the United States.

Individually, patients with heart disease and their families can feel the financial burden from heart disease. As heart disease conditions progress, some patients have to take time off of work in addition to the cost of treatment and medications. In the United States, it is estimated to be roughly $400 billion spent annually on heart disease through health services, medications, and loss of wages.

The most common type of heart disease is coronary heart disease

Coronary heart disease is when the arteries struggle to deliver oxygen-rich blood to the heart. Annually in the United States, roughly 400,000 people die from coronary heart disease. Some patients of coronary heart disease experience no symptoms.

20% of all heart attacks in the United States are silent

Most patients who experience a heart attack will feel the damage and can receive treatment. However, 20% of heart attack patients will not exhibit any symptoms and have no idea about the damage occurring to their heart. Patients can survive a silent heart attack, and it can be diagnosed after it occurs using imaging technology.

Heart disease is a very dangerous and deadly disease. Everyone’s health can benefit from practicing healthy heart habits. Patients with diabetes, excessive weight, unhealthy diets, and sedentary lifestyles are especially at risk.

Cardiovascular Research & Training Institute

At the Nora Eccles Harrison Cardiovascular Research and Training Institute (CVRTI), we have a broad array of research teams studying multiple aspects of heart disease. Not only do we perform cutting edge basic research, we also can take our discoveries from the bench to more translational pre-clinical studies, to clinical research in humans. We have researchers exploring metabolism in the heart focusing on the linkage between mitochondria and failing hearts and arrhythmia. Other researchers are investigating heart muscle cells during disease progression and how the function of ion channels and signaling proteins differ in normal and failing hearts.

The ultimate goal of heart disease research at the CVRTI is to provide interventional therapies by utilizing translational medicine to create a true ‘bench to bedside’ approach at reducing the impact of heart failure.  Researchers are examining the dangerous effects of cardiac arrhythmia and possible therapeutic interventions to minimize or reverse the progression of heart disease. Other researchers focus on treatment options associated with ion channels ‘becoming lost’ in the diseased heart while on their way to their proper locations within the heart.

Research Labs

Drakos Laboratory

The Drakos Laboratory, headed by Stavros Drakos, MD, PhD, focuses on understanding the metabolic and molecular profile of the failing and recovered heart and utilizes biological information derived from studies in humans, small, and large animal HF models to understand, predict and manipulate myocardial recovery. Original work generated by the Drakos research team in the laboratory and in the clinical arena led to the founding and establishment of the award winning multidisciplinary Utah Cardiac Recovery Program (UCAR). Link to lab summary page on CVRTI

Sachse Laboratory 

The Sachse Laboratory, headed by Frank Sachse, PhD, provides insights into structural and functional remodeling in diseased hearts and mechanisms of cardiac recovery after clinical therapy. They also develop optical approaches to support pediatric heart surgery and interventional cardiology.

Shaw Laboratory

The Shaw Laboratory, headed by Robin Shaw, MD, PhD, is focused on understanding the cell biology of heart arrhythmias and heart failure progression. Link to lab summary page on CVRTI The Shaw Laboratory, headed by Robin Shaw, MD, PhD, is focused on understanding the cell biology of heart arrhythmias and heart failure progression. Link to lab summary page on CVRTI

Ranjan Laboratory

The Ranjan Laboratory, headed by Ravi Ranjan, MD, PhD, focuses on developing a better understanding of arrhythmia mechanisms and optimizing the ablation procedure. The lab is using a combination of high density electrical mapping and imaging in an animal model combined with computational modeling to develop a better understanding of arrhythmia mechanisms. To optimize the ablation procedure, the team uses MRI to quantify tissue changes including reversible edema over time for different energy sources and ablation parameters to develop the optimal ablation technique. Link to lab summary page on CVRTI 

Cardiogenic Shock Symptoms: Causes, Effects, and Treatment

What is Cardiogenic Shock? 

Cardiogenic shock (CS) is a life-threatening condition whereby the heart can’t pump enough blood to meet the body’s needs. While a severe heart attack most often causes it, not everyone who has a heart attack experiences cardiogenic shock. While a serious heart attack usually damages the left ventricle (the main pumping chamber), it can sometimes damage the right ventricle, which pumps blood to the lungs.

Causes and Complications of Cardiogenic Shock

• Myocarditis: inflammation of the heart muscle
• Endocarditis: infection-induced inflammation of the inner lining of the heart
• Arrhythmias: irregular heartbeat (abnormal heart) where either the lower chambers fibrillate (ventricular fibrillation) or where the ventricles beat too fast (ventricular tachycardia)
• Pericardial tamponade: pressure on the heart due to excess fluid present around the heart
• Pulmonary embolism: blood clot developed in a blood vessel; leads to blockage of blood flow
• Rupture of the heart or damage to the valves
• Critical illness: the heart is not able to contract as hard as it should after resuscitation from cardiac arrest or with critical illness following trauma or severe infections

Understanding Heart Disease Symptoms

Symptoms may present fast and include sudden shortness of breath, fainting, dizziness, confusion, anxiety, sweating, chills, rapid and weak heartbeat or heart rhythm, fatigue, or low or absent urinary output. Patients with CS may also enter into a coma if the shock is not treated quickly enough. Furthermore, because CS usually results from a heart attack, patients will usually experience heart attack symptoms – chest pain/pressure, shoulder & arm pain, sweating, nausea, and vomiting.

How a Medical Doctor Can Diagnose Cardiogenic Shock

A doctor can confirm a Cardiogenic Shock diagnosis by supplementing patient symptoms with testing and vital signs. Testing can include performing an ECG, chest x-ray, blood tests, echocardiogram, or cardiac catheterization. Patients with any type of shock present with low blood pressure end end-organ hypoperfusion (e.g., low urine output). CS patients specifically have a low cardiac output, elevated ventricle filling pressures, and decreased venous oxygen saturation.

Managing Heart Failure Disease 

Unfortunately,  Cardiogenic Shock is a complex disease frequently associated with multisystem organ failure. Few evidence-based interventions can definitively improve patient outcomes. Emergency treatment includes oxygen administration and mechanical ventilation in more severe cases.  

Medications Administered to Increase the Heart’s Ability to Pump Blood & Reduce Blood Clot Risk After Cardiogenic Shock.

• Vasopressors: Used to treat low blood pressure (e.g., dopamine, epinephrine, norepinephrine)
• Inotropic agents: Used to improve heart pumping function (e.g., dobutamine, dopamine, milrinone)
• Blood-thinning medications:
  • Aspirin: Used sparingly to reduce blood clotting and keep blood moving through arteries
  • Antiplatelets: Used to prevent blood clotting (e.g., Plavix)
  • Others such as heparin

Beyond medication and immediate treatment, procedures to restore regular blood flow can be performed on patients experiencing Cardiogenic Shock Symptoms. Inside the body, angioplasty and stenting help open blocked arteries and facilitate blood flow to the heart. A balloon pump can be used to assist the heart in pumping blood to the body. Alternatively, in very sick patients, extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) allows efficient blood pumping outside of the body through a heart-lung machine.

Doctors can perform surgery on  Cardiogenic Shock patients as a last resort, such as coronary artery bypass surgery or a heart transplant.

Epidemiology

Cardiogenic Shock is the leading cause of death after myocardial infarction (a heart attack). Higher incidences of CS occur in women, Asian/Pacific Islanders, and patients older than 75. CS incidence has increased due to improved diagnosis and better global access to care. 6 to 12 month mortality is approximately 50% but can be as high as 70-90% in the absence of aggressive, highly experienced technical care.

Classifying Symptom Severity for Enhanced Treatment Strategies

As there is a broad spectrum of clinical severity among patients presenting with CS, a classification system developed in 2019 stratifies CS into five categories: A (At Risk), B (Beginning), C (Classic), D (Deteriorating), and E (Extremis). CS is difficult to study because patients can deteriorate rapidly, informed consent is hard to obtain from the patient, and a variety of heterogeneous disease states can present as cardiogenic shock. Improved clinical characterization and risk assessment of CS patients may lead to more effective clinical treatment and outcomes in the future.

CVRTI’s Center for Study in Cardiology and Heart Disease

Years of basic and clinical research have positioned investigators from the Nora Eccles Harrison Cardiovascular Research and Training Institute as world leaders in understanding heart biology. In addition, a clear understanding of the mechanisms of injury has led to several therapeutic advancements. The CVRTI’s excellence has materialized in the Utah Cardiac Recovery Program  or UCARS . This is a registry that focuses on better understanding CS to improve patient outcomes ultimately. Investigators have also developed a team approach to care for patients with severe CS. They demonstrated that patients managed by a multi-disciplinary team (heart failure cardiologist, heart failure cardiothoracic surgeon, interventional cardiologist, and a Cardiovascular Intensive Care Unit physician) do better. Other groups at the CVRTI focus on developing novel drugs to protect and rescue injured hearts in both acute and chronic conditions. Investigators from the CVRTI have discovered two proteins (GJA1-20k  and cBIN1) that are key players in normal myocardial function. Those molecules could be used to treat CS . Our investigators are testing whether administering those proteins can protect the heart after blockage of the main arteries in the heart or following major traumatic injuries. If successful, those groups could champion significant advances that will improve CS patients’ survival.