Health
This disease kills more people than all cancers and accidents combined
Heart disease remains the top killer of Americans as risk factors continue to grow.
The latest statistics were revealed in the American Heart Association’s annual report, 2025 Heart Disease and Stroke Statistics.
The report, which was published on Jan. 27 in the AHA’s journal Circulation, revealed that cardiovascular disease kills more people than all types of cancer and accidental deaths combined.
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In 2022 — the most recent year for which mortality data is available — a total of 941,652 people died of heart disease-related conditions, according to the report. This was a little more than 10,000 more deaths than the prior year.
The age-adjusted death rate decreased slightly from last year, however.
In 2022 — the most recent year for which mortality data is available — a total of 941,652 people died of heart disease-related condition (iStock)
“Overall, we are seeing cardiovascular-related deaths leveling out compared to 2022,” said Dr. Bradley Serwer, a Maryland-based cardiologist and chief medical officer at VitalSolution, an Ingenovis Health company that offers cardiovascular and anesthesiology services to hospitals.
“We are making some improvements in regard to improved prevalence of hyperlipidemia (high cholesterol) and lower incidence of smoking, but have lost ground in regard to diabetes, obesity and hypertension,” Serwer, who was not involved in the report, told Fox News Digital.
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Someone dies of heart disease every 34 seconds in the U.S., and a total of 2,500 die per day, according to Keith Churchwell, M.D., the volunteer president of the American Heart Association.
“It’s alarming to note that excess weight now costs us even more lives than smoking.”
“Those are alarming statistics to me – and they should be alarming for all of us,” Churchwell said in a press release.
“Too many people are dying from heart disease and from stroke, which remains the fifth leading cause of death.”
Risk factors
The report also detailed the prevalence of specific risk factors for heart disease.
More than 72% of U.S. adults have “unhealthy weight,” which is defined as a body mass index of at least 25, the report stated.
Nearly 42% of those adults meet the criteria for obesity (a body mass index of 30 or more).
Nearly 42% of those adults meet the criteria for obesity (a body mass index of 30 or more). (iStock)
The report also revealed that more than half of U.S. adults (57%) have type 2 diabetes or prediabetes.
“Although we have made a lot of progress against cardiovascular disease in the past few decades, there is a lot more work that remains to be done,” American Heart Association volunteer Dhruv S. Kazi, M.D., wrote in an editorial that accompanied the report.
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“If recent trends continue, hypertension and obesity will each affect more than 180 million U.S. adults by 2050, whereas the prevalence of diabetes will climb to more than 80 million.”
Experts predict a 300% increase cardiovascular-related healthcare costs, added Kazi, who is also head of health economics and associate director of the Richard A. and Susan F. Smith Center for Outcomes Research in Cardiology at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center.
“Too many people are dying from heart disease and from stroke, which remains the fifth leading cause of death.” (iStock)
The report also called out different rates of risk factors among different races and ethnic groups.
Black women were found to have the highest rate of obesity (57.9%) and Asian women had the lowest rate (14.5%).
Black women also had the highest rate of blood pressure (58.4%) and Hispanic women, at 35.3%, had the lowest rate.
“Just because we are seeing improvements in smoking and high cholesterol doesn’t mean we can back off.”
“We are also seeing a rise in obesity in our youth, with as many as 40% having unhealthy weight,” Serwer warned.
“This trend continues into adulthood, when we see nearly 60% of adults having unhealthy weight.”
Excess weight is a contributing factor in as many as 1,300 additional deaths per day in the U.S., or nearly 500,000 per year, according to the report.
“It lowers life expectancy by as much as 2.4 years compared to a healthy weight,” said American Heart Association volunteer Latha P. Palaniappan, M.D., a professor of cardiovascular medicine at Stanford University in Palo Alto, California.
“Any medical or clinical therapies that can treat the risk factors that contribute to cardiovascular disease are essential.” (iStock)
“It’s alarming to note that excess weight now costs us even more lives than smoking – as smoking rates have actually fallen in recent years. Being overweight is the new smoking when it comes to health threats.”
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One positive finding in the report is that rates of high cholesterol have dropped, which is attributed to improved dietary and lifestyle factors, availability of medications and “better clinical control.”
“Recent clinical research has identified a number of new medication therapies to address the growing burden of obesity, as well, and we look forward to learning more about those advances as the body of science builds,” Churchwell noted.
What needs to change?
The researchers called for interventions to help reduce heart disease risk factors.
“Any medical or clinical therapies that can treat the risk factors that contribute to CVD are essential,” Churchwell wrote. “…We need to stop these risk factors in their tracks, keep people healthy throughout their lifespan.”
Serwer agreed that the best way to combat this top killer is to aggressively attack the risk factors.
“Just because we are seeing improvements in smoking and high cholesterol doesn’t mean we can back off,” he said.
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“We need to continue to aggressively attack tobacco use and treat hyperlipidemia while increasing efforts to treat obesity, high blood pressure and diabetes.”
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As colorectal cancer (CRC) is now the leading cause of cancer death in adults under 50, a new report reveals some surprising shifts in the incidence of the disease.
Although rates of CRC have been declining among seniors, those 65 and under are facing a rise in diagnoses, according to a report titled Colorectal Cancer Statistics, 2026, from the American Cancer Society.
Adults 65 and younger comprise nearly half (45%) of all new colorectal cancer cases — a significant increase from 27% in 1995, states the report, which was published in CA: A Cancer Journal for Clinicians.
The disease is rising fastest among adults 20 to 49 years old, at a rate of 3% per year.
Colorectal cancer is now the leading cause of cancer death in adults under 50. (iStock)
Among adults 50 and under, 75% of colorectal cancers are diagnosed at an advanced stage. Half of the diagnoses in that age range are made between the ages of 45 and 49. Although that age group is eligible to receive routine screenings, just 37% do so.
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The report also revealed that rectal cancer is on the rise, now accounting for about one-third (32%) of all CRC cases — an increase from 27% in the mid-2000s.
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“After decades of progress, the risk of dying from colorectal cancer is climbing in younger generations of men and women, confirming a real uptick in disease because of something we’re doing or some other exposure,” said Rebecca Siegel, senior scientific director, surveillance research at the American Cancer Society and lead author of the report, in a press release.
Among adults 50 and under, 75% of colorectal cancers are diagnosed at an advanced stage. Half of the diagnoses in that age range are made between the ages of 45 and 49. (iStock)
“We need to redouble research efforts to understand the cause, but also circumvent deaths through earlier detection by educating clinicians and the general public about symptoms and increasing screening in people 45-54 years.”
It is projected that 158,850 new cases of colorectal cancer will be diagnosed this year, and that the disease will cause 55,230 deaths, per the report.
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More than half of CRC cases can be linked to high-risk behaviors, the researchers said. Those include lack of nutrition, high alcohol consumption, smoking, lack of exercise and obesity.
“These findings further underscore that colorectal cancer is worsening among younger generations and highlight the immediate need for eligible adults to begin screening at the recommended age of 45,” said Dr. William Dahut, chief scientific officer at the American Cancer Society.
When the disease is caught at a local (early) stage, the five-year survival rate is 95%. (iStock)
“The report also shines a light on the crucial importance of continued funding for research to help discover new therapies to treat the disease and advance patient care.”
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When the disease is caught at a local (early) stage, the five-year survival rate is 95%, the report stated.
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A new study suggests that middle-aged men may be more vulnerable to faster biological aging, potentially linked to exposure to “forever chemicals.”
The research, published in the journal Frontiers in Aging, examined how perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances, more commonly known as PFAS, could impact aging at the cellular level.
PFAS are synthetic chemicals commonly used in nonstick cookware, food packaging, water-resistant fabrics and other consumer products, the study noted.
Their chemical structure makes them highly resistant to breaking down, allowing them to accumulate in water, soil and the human body.
Chinese researchers analyzed blood samples from 326 adults enrolled in the U.S. National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey between 1999 and 2000.
A new study suggests that middle-aged men could face accelerated biological aging at the cellular level due to exposure to PFAS. (iStock)
The researchers measured levels of 11 PFAS compounds in participants’ blood and used DNA-based “epigenetic clocks” — tools that analyze chemical changes to DNA to estimate biological age — to determine how quickly their bodies were aging at the cellular level, the study stated.
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Two compounds, perfluorononanoic acid (PFNA) and perfluorooctanesulfonamide (PFOSA), were detected in 95% of participants.
Higher concentrations of those chemicals were associated with faster biological aging in men of certain age groups, but not in women.
“People should not panic.”
The compounds most strongly linked to accelerated aging were not the PFAS chemicals that typically receive the most public attention, the researchers noted.
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“The associations were strongest in adults aged 50 to 64, particularly in men,” Dr. Xiangwei Li, professor at Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine and the study’s corresponding author, told Fox News Digital.
“While this does not establish that PFAS cause aging, it suggests that these widely present ‘forever chemicals’ may be linked to molecular changes related to long-term health and aging.”
The study found that two of the compounds were detected in 95% of participants, and higher levels were linked to faster biological aging in men ages 50–64. (iStock)
Midlife may represent a more sensitive biological period, when the body becomes more vulnerable to age-related stressors, according to the researchers.
Lifestyle factors, such as smoking, may influence biological aging markers, potentially increasing vulnerability to environmental pollutants.
While Li said “people should not panic,” she does recommend looking for reasonable ways to reduce exposure.
That might mean checking local drinking water reports, using certified water filters designed to reduce PFAS, and limiting the use of stain- or grease-resistant products when alternatives are available.
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Meaningful reductions in PFAS exposure will likely depend on broader regulatory action and environmental cleanup efforts, Li added.
The researchers noted that midlife could be a particularly sensitive stage, when the body is more susceptible to stressors associated with aging. (iStock)
Study limitations
The researchers outlined several important limitations of the research, including that the findings show an association, but do not prove that PFAS directly causes accelerated aging.
“The study is cross-sectional, meaning exposure and aging markers were measured at the same time, so we cannot determine causality,” Li told Fox News Digital.
The study was also relatively small, limited to 326 adults age 50 or older, which means the findings may not apply to younger people or broader populations.
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Researchers measured PFAS levels using data collected between 1999 and 2000, and today’s exposure patterns may differ.
Li added that while PFAS is known to persist in the environment and the body, these results should be validated through larger, more recent studies that follow participants over time.
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