America, you were doing so well. But a new study from the Centers for Disease Control finds that after years of decline, deaths from heart failure are on the rise again.
Deaths related to heart failure per 100,000 people rose from 81.4 in 2012 to 84.0 in 2014.
It's a puzzling turn of events after a decade of steady, significant decline.
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The rate stood at 105.4 in 2000. The report finds that the rate began inching up again in 2009.
Significant racial disparities persist. African Americans are at the greatest risk of heart failure, with 91.5 per 100,000 dying of heart failure, compared to 87.3 of whites.
What is truly stunning is the much lower rate of death among Hispanics––only 53.3!
Men in every age group examined were much more likely to die from heart failure than women.
Among men between ages 45-64, 41.3 per 100,000 die from heart failure, compared to only 24 women. Among those ages 65-74, the heart failure death rate for men is 204, compared to 125 for women.
For better or worse, more people are dying of heart failure outside of conventional hospitals.
In 2000, 42.6 percent of such deaths took place in a hospital, compared to only 30 percent in 2014.
Deaths in nursing homes have also decreased, although less dramatically, from 30.1 percent to 26.7 percent.
Meanwhile, the percentage of people dying of heart failure elsewhere, such as outpatient clinics or hospice facilities, increased from 9 percent to 15.7 percent.
And the percentage who died in their child's home increased from 18.3 percent to 27.6 percent.
"Place of death is an indicator of the state of end-of-life care, indicating where the patient was receiving care at the very end of life," the report stated.
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