A new report from the American Heart Association estimated that heart diseases could affect at least 60% of U.S. adults by 2050.
Hypertension, however, is expected to affect 61% of the U.S. population by 2050, increasing from 51.2%.
“Excluding people with high blood pressure, researchers project 15% of the population will have developed cardiovascular disease by 2050, up from 11.3% in 2020,” the American Heart Association described. “This includes a doubling of stroke rates.”
Dr. Dhruv S. Kazi, vice chair of the advisory writing group, said in a statement that the increase of cardiovascular diseases is a “near-perfect storm.”
“The last decade has seen a surge of cardiovascular risk factors such as uncontrolled high blood pressure, diabetes and obesity, each of which raises the risks of developing heart disease and stroke,” he said. “It is not surprising that an enormous increase in cardiovascular risk factors and diseases will produce a substantial economic burden.”
The increase in heart diseases also poses an economic burden, Kazi explained, as matters related to cardiovascular disease are expected to cost $1.8 trillion.
Kazi said that the price tag is a “near tripling of the total direct and indirect costs of cardiovascular disease over the coming three decades, and almost doubles the economic impact of CVD as a proportion of the U.S. gross domestic product, increasing from 2.7% in 2020 to 4.6% in 2050.”
While many heart issues are connected to diabetes and obesity, some have linked the COVID-19 vaccine to cardiovascular problems.
A recent study published in the medical journal Cureus found that 27.11% of those who received COVID-19 mRNA vaccines in Saudi Arabia had “cardiac complications.”
“Due to the scarcity of data on vaccine safety specific to the Saudi population, a dedicated study becomes imperative to uncover the incidence, nature, and associated factors of self-reported physician-diagnosed cardiac complications post mRNA vaccination,” the researchers wrote.
While the study’s authors claimed cardiac complications were “infrequent,” they noted the implications of heart issues are “significant.”
A 2022 study similarly found that negative cardiovascular events may occur in those aged 16-39 following the COVID-19 inoculation.
