By: Chris Mackey

February is American Heart month. Heart disease continues to be the leading cause of death in the United States. Just over 600,000 deaths are caused by heart disease each year. A study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) showed that adults with disability were more likely to die from heart disease than any other leading cause of death, and that this percentage was higher for people with disability than those without.

Sources:

• https://www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/disabilityandhealth/features/disabilitystatus.html
• https://www.cdc.gov/dhdsp/data_statistics/fact_sheets/fs_heart_disease.htm

Leading Causes of Death among Adults with Disability

This chart shows the results of a CDC study on the leading causes of death for both people with and without disability.  The two circled numbers show that a higher percentage of people with disability (32.8%) died from heart disease compared to the percentage of people without disability (27.5%).

Source: “Key Findings: Disability Status, Mortality, and Leading Causes of Death in the United States Community Population.” The National Center on Birth Defects and Developmental Disabilities, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Online https://www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/disabilityandhealth/features/disabilitystatus.html