DISEASES OF THE HEART

Although heart disease remains the leading cause of deaths of New Jersey residents, accounting for 23,658 deaths in 1996, the number of deaths and the death rate from this cause have been declining for more than 20 years. The annual number of deaths from heart disease has fallen by 12.2 percent (or 3,288 deaths) in the past decade (Table M3). The percentage of resident deaths attributed to heart disease fell from 37.6 percent in 1987 to 32.4 percent in 1996 (Table M23 and CHS, 1998c). The decrease in heart disease death rates has affected virtually every age group during the past 10 years. The only age group with an increase in the death rate between 1987 and 1996 was 15 through 24 years and the number of heart disease deaths in this age group was small in both years.