Final 2006 statistics for the United States show that coronary heart disease (CHD) is the single leading cause of death in America. CHD causes heart attack and angina.

• Mortality — 425,425 deaths in the United States in 2006 (about one of every six deaths). 
• Incidence — 1,255,000 new and recurrent coronary attacks per year. (National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute's Atherosclerotic Risk in Communities [ARIC] Study and Cardiovascular Health Study (CHS). About 34 percent of people who experience a coronary attack in a given year die from it.
• Prevalence — 17,600,000 victims of angina (chest pain due to coronary heart disease), heart attack and other forms of coronary heart disease are still living (9,200,000 males and 8,400,000 females).
• From 1996 to 2006 the death rate from coronary heart disease declined 34 percent, but the actual number of deaths declined only 19 percent. 
• Estimates are that 10,200,000 people in the United States suffer from angina.
• An estimated 500,000 new cases of stable angina occur each year. (Framingham Heart Study, National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute)
• The estimated age-adjusted prevalence of angina in women age 20 and older was 4.5 percent for non-Hispanic white women, 5.4 percent for non-Hispanic black women and 4.8 percent for Mexican-American women. Rates for men in these three groups were 4.7, 4.0 and 2.9 percent, respectively.*
• Among adults in the United States age 20 and older, the estimated age-adjusted prevalence of coronary heart disease for non-Hispanic whites is 9.4 percent for men and 6.9 percent for women; for non-Hispanic blacks, 7.8 percent for men and 7.8 percent for women; and for Mexican-Americans, 5.3 percent for men and 6.6 percent for women.*

Related AHA publications:

• Know the Facts... Get the Stats
• Heart Disease and Stroke Statistics Update