---
type: source
title: "2026 Heart Disease and Stroke Statistics: A Report of US and Global Data From the American Heart Association"
author: "American Heart Association / Circulation"
url: https://www.ahajournals.org/doi/10.1161/CIR.0000000000001412
date: 2026-01-21
domain: health
secondary_domains: []
format: research-paper
status: processed
processed_by: vida
processed_date: 2026-04-04
priority: high
tags: [cardiovascular-disease, mortality-trends, heart-failure, hypertension, ischemic-heart-disease, US-statistics, belief-1, belief-3, CVD-stagnation, bifurcation]
extraction_model: "anthropic/claude-sonnet-4.5"
---

## Content

The American Heart Association's 2026 annual statistics update, published in Circulation. Primary data year: 2023.

**Headline:**
- Heart disease remains the leading cause of death in the US. Stroke moved up to #4.
- CVD diseases claim more lives annually than causes #2 and #3 combined (cancer and accidents).

**Overall CVD mortality (2023 data):**
- 915,973 CVD deaths in 2023, down from 941,652 in 2022
- Age-adjusted mortality rate: 218.3 per 100,000 in 2023 vs 224.3 in 2022 (~2.7% decline)
- 33.5% overall decline in age-adjusted CVD mortality since 1999 (350.8 → 218.3 per 100,000)
- 2021 pandemic spike: rate rose to 233.3 before resuming decline

**Divergent trends by CVD subtype (the critical finding):**

*Declining:*
- Ischemic heart disease: declining over study period
- Cerebrovascular disease: declining over study period
- Overall stroke deaths dropped for first time in several years

*Increasing — alarming:*
- **Hypertensive disease mortality: DOUBLED from 15.8 to 31.9 per 100,000 (1999-2023).** Since 2022, hypertension has become the #1 contributing cardiovascular cause of death — surpassing ischemic heart disease as a contributing (not just underlying) cause.
- **Heart failure mortality: spiked to 21.6 per 100,000 in 2023** — the highest ever recorded, after declining from 20.3 (1999) to 16.9 (2011) and then reversing sharply.

**Stroke in younger adults:**
- Ages 25-34: stroke death rate increased 8.3% between 2013-2023 (unadjusted)
- Ages 85+: increased 18.2%
- Total stroke deaths dropped overall, but age-distribution is shifting toward younger populations

**Notable absence in the report:**
The 2026 report covers data through 2023 — before the 2024 life expectancy record high (79 years). The 2023 data shows aggregate improvement (fewer deaths, lower age-adjusted rate) but with the divergent subtypes above.

**Context: the AHA 2026 At-A-Glance key points:**
- 48 million Americans still have cardiovascular disease
- 1 in 3 US adults has hypertension; hypertension control rates have worsened since 2015
- Obesity-related cardiovascular risk continues growing: HF and hypertension mortality rising as ischemic care improves

## Agent Notes
**Why this matters:** This is the definitive annual data source for US CVD trends. It reveals the "bifurcation" pattern I've been tracking: excellent acute ischemic care (MI mortality declining) coexisting with worsening chronic cardiometabolic burden (HF and hypertension at all-time highs). This bifurcation is exactly what you'd expect if healthcare treats disease well but fails to address the underlying metabolic risk factors (Belief 3 structural misalignment). It also provides the 2023 CVD mortality data that contextualizes the CDC 2026 life expectancy record.
**What surprised me:** Heart failure mortality in 2023 (21.6) has EXCEEDED its 1999 rate (20.3) — after declining to 16.9 in 2011, it has surged back past its starting point. This is not stagnation; this is reversal. The AHA 2026 stats are the first to show the full extent of this reversal.
**What I expected but didn't find:** Evidence that GLP-1 drug adoption is beginning to appear in aggregate CVD statistics. It is not visible in the 2023 data, and given the timeline analysis (RGA study: 3.5% mortality reduction by 2045), it likely won't be visible in aggregate statistics for a decade or more.
**KB connections:** Pairs with CDC 2026 life expectancy record (archived); Abrams AJE 2025 (CVD stagnation pervasive); PNAS Shiels 2020 (CVD primary driver of LE stall). The bifurcation pattern is new and not yet in the KB.
**Extraction hints:**
- "US CVD mortality is bifurcating: ischemic heart disease and stroke declining while heart failure (all-time high: 21.6/100k in 2023) and hypertensive disease (doubled since 1999) are worsening — aggregate improvement masks structural deterioration in the cardiometabolic drivers that determine long-term healthspan"
- "Hypertension has become the #1 contributing cardiovascular cause of death in the US since 2022, having doubled in age-adjusted mortality rate since 1999 (15.8 → 31.9/100k) — the primary driver of CVD mortality is shifting from acute ischemia (addressable by procedural care) to chronic hypertension (requiring behavioral and structural intervention)"
**Context:** Published January 2026. Primary data year is 2023. The most authoritative annual CVD statistics report for the US, published in Circulation, with separate PubMed and AHA newsroom coverage.

## Curator Notes
PRIMARY CONNECTION: Abrams AJE 2025 (CVD stagnation pervasive); CDC 2026 life expectancy record; PNAS Shiels 2020 (CVD primary driver)
WHY ARCHIVED: Confirms and extends CVD stagnation pattern with 2023 data; reveals HF at all-time high (new finding not in KB); establishes bifurcation pattern (ischemic declining, HF/HTN worsening) that explains why aggregate life expectancy improvement masks structural deterioration
EXTRACTION HINT: The bifurcation finding is the novel claim: US CVD mortality is diverging by subtype in a way that masks structural worsening behind aggregate improvement. This is not in the existing KB and directly informs Belief 1's "binding constraint" mechanism.
