Cardiovascular Disease is the No. 1 Killer in the US

Cardiovascular diseases such as heart disease and stroke are the top killers in the United States.

According to the 2016 Heart Disease and Stroke Statistics Update of the American Heart Association (AHA), cardiovascular diseases are responsible for one of every three deaths in the U.S. in 2013.

The AHA also reported that heart disease is the number one killer in the world, while stroke ranks at number two.

Moreover, it was cited that there are about 801,000 Americans who died from cardiovascular diseases in 2013, with heart disease claiming the lives of 370,000 people and stroke killing nearly 129,000.

It also highlighted that about 116,000 of the 750,000 people in U.S., who had a heart attack, died while about 795,000 Americans suffered from stroke, which the report cited as the "leading preventable cause of disability."

Moreover, the update also included the so-called "Life's Simple 7" which are the factors and behaviors that contribute to cardiovascular health. These factors, which has been tracked as well, includes smoking, exercise, diet, body weight, cholesterol, blood pressure and blood sugar.

As stated in the update, despite a 30 percent drop in the number of smokers in the U.S. since 1998, 19 percent of men and 15 percent of women were still smoking in 2014. By the same year, it was recorded that one in every three adults are not exercising.

Moreover, although the number of children and adults consuming the ideal diet rose from 0.2 percent to 0.6 percent, and 0.7 percent to 1.5 percent, respectively, the number of overweight and obese adults were still astounding.

From the data, it was found that about 160 million people in US were overweight and obese in which 62 percent were adults and 32 percent were children. Among this figure, about 13 million adults or 17 percent were obese.

Furthermore, 43 percent of Americans were found to have a total cholesterol of 200mg/dL or higher in 2009 to 2012. During this duration, 80 million American adults, or 33 percent, suffered from high blood pressure, while about 9 percent have diagnosed diabetes and 35 percent with pre-diabetes.

"We need to maintain our vigor and resolve in promoting good cardiovascular health through lifestyle and recognition and treatment of risk factors such as high blood pressure, diabetes, high cholesterol and smoking. We've made progress in the fight against cardiovascular disease, but the battle is not won," AHA President Mark Creager, M.D., said in the AHA blog post.

The Heart Disease and Stroke Statistics Update has been produced since 1958 with data from AHA, the National Institutes of Health, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as well as other government sources.