According to recent CDC reports on the top ten leading causes of death, heart disease and cancer still take first and second place as the number-one killers in the United States. Preliminary findings report that in 2009, heart disease and cancer together accounted for 48 percent of U.S. deaths.*
Cancer is catching up to heart disease and has moved into a 
closer second-place position since the last report. The next most prominent cause of death is stroke, which accounts for less than one-eighth the amount of deaths caused by killers number one and two.
| Cause of Death | 2007 Data | 2009 Data |
| Heart Disease | 616,067 | 598,607 |
| Cancer | 562,875 | 568,668 |
| Stroke | 135,952 | 137,082 |
The number of deaths per year due to heart disease has dropped significantly over the past several years, and research shows that heart disease mortality has been steadily dropping since 1950. With preventive care and practices like interventional cardiology Panama City FL care centers are gradually seeing more patients taking control of their heart conditions and working to prevent future illness.
While lifelong preventive care – such as regular aerobic exercise, a diet low in saturated fat and cholesterol and not smoking – is absolutely the best way to prevent heart disease, many doctors conjecture that improved treatment for heart disease as well as a decline in smoking are the cause. Better emergency treatments, interventional procedures and cholesterol-reducing medications may play a strong role.
For more information on preventive heart care and cardiac surgery in Panama City, visit www.cardiovascularinstitute.com.
*As data collection and analysis can take a number of years, reports on death rates for a given year are generally released a few years later.
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