More than half (51%) of respondents in a 2023 Harris Poll survey conducted on behalf of the American Heart Association did not identify heart disease as the leading cause of death in the U.S. Heart disease has been the leading cause of death in the U.S. for 100 years. Heart disease along with stroke, which is the fifth leading cause of death, claimed more lives in 2021 in the U.S. than all forms of cancer and chronic lower respiratory disease combined.