Heart Disease in Minnesota

How common is heart disease in Minnesota?

• In 2021, 3.7% of adults in Minnesota reported ever having had a heart attack in their lifetime – over 165,000 people.¹
• Almost 17% of all deaths in Minnesota are due to heart disease (8,568 deaths in 2021), making it the 2nd-leading cause of death in the state behind cancer. This is a lower proportion of overall deaths than is typical, as COVID-19 became the third-leading cause of death in 2020.²
• In 2020, Minnesotans experienced more than 43,000 acute heart disease hospitalizations.³This is also lower than has been observed in recent years, due to lower hospital volumes during the COVID-19 pandemic.
• Every year from 2000 through 2021, Minnesota had the lowest overall heart disease death rate in the United States.⁴

Are there disparities in heart disease rates in Minnesota?

• From 2018-2021, the heart disease death rate was 50% higher in people who are American Indian compared to Minnesotans overall.² This disparity is greatest for middle-aged adults. American Indian adults aged 35-54 die from heart disease at more than three times the rate of all Minnesotans of the same age.
• African-American/African-Born adults aged 35-64 die from heart disease at approximately two times the rate of all Minnesotans of the same age.
• Although stroke death rates are significantly higher in African American/African-Born people than white people in Minnesota, the difference between these groups in overall heart disease death rates is relatively small. This is very unusual, compared to significant disparities seen in heart disease between African American people and white people across the nation. One reason for this may be because Minnesota has many African-Born residents, who have a lower rate of death due to heart disease than people who are U.S.-born African American.
• The lowest heart disease death rates in Minnesota are in people who are Asian/Pacific Islander and people who are Latinx/Hispanic, with death rates 41% and 45% lower than the overall population, respectively.²

What is the economic cost of heart disease?

• In the United States, there were over $108 billion in annual heart disease-related medical costs, including procedures, hospitalizations, rehabilitation, and an additional $120 from lost productivity due to premature deaths during 2017 and 2018.⁵

MN Public Health Data Access Portal: Heart Attacks

About heart disease: Health information on heart disease and its risk factors

For more information, contact: health.heart@state.mn.us

₁ Minnesota Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System, Unadjusted prevalence.
₂ Vital Statistics 2013-2020. MN Center for Health Statistics, MDH.
₃ MN Hospital Uniform Billing (UB) Claims Data, Health Economics Program, MDH and Minnesota Hospital Association.
₄ CDC, National Center for Health Statistics, Compressed Mortality File (CMF) on CDC WONDER Online Database
₅  Tsao CW., et al. Heart Disease and Stroke Statistics – 2022 Update: A report from the American Heart Association. Circulation. 2022;145:e153-e639.