Highest Rates of Diabetes and High Blood Pressure Among Neighboring Counties
Chronic diseases – including diabetes, high blood pressure, and heart disease – are costly yet largely preventable. Chronic illnesses contribute to approximately 70% of deaths in the United States each year and account for about 75% of the nation’s health-related costs.[1] This indicator reports prevalence and death data for heart disease, diabetes, and high blood pressure/stroke. Also tracked are hospitalizations due to heart failure and hypertension.
TREND
Heart Disease
The percentage of county residents who were diagnosed with heart disease decreased from 7.9% in 2019 to 7.0% in 2020. In 2020, San Bernardino County’s death rate due to heart disease was 199.5 age-adjusted deaths per 100,000 residents. This marks a slight decrease of 1% since 2011, but a one-year increase of 8% since 2019.
HEART DISEASE DEATHS INCREASED IN 2020
Heart Disease: Percentage Ever Diagnosed and Death Rates in San Bernardino County, 2011-2020
Diabetes
The long-term trend is toward increasing diabetes diagnoses and deaths. In 2020, 15.7% of adults in San Bernardino County had been diagnosed with diabetes. This is an increase from 2019, when diabetes prevalence was 14.2%, and an increase from 2011, when 11.1% of adults in the county had a diabetes diagnosis. Deaths due to diabetes increased from 34.8 deaths per 100,000 residents in 2019 to 36.2 deaths per 100,000 residents in 2020. The longer-term trend is also upward, increasing 7% since 2011.
BETWEEN 2019 AND 2020, DIABETES PREVALENCE AND DEATHS INCREASED
Diabetes: Percentage Ever Diagnosed and Death Rates in San Bernardino County, 2011-2020
Blood Pressure / Stroke[2]
In 2020, 28.5% of adults in San Bernardino County had high blood pressure, which is a lower proportion than in 2019 when 31.4% of adults had high blood pressure. Deaths due to strokes, which are associated with high blood pressure, increased 3%, from 41.2 age-adjusted deaths per 100,000 in 2019 to 42.4 in 2020. The long-term trend, however, is downward, with a 3% decline in deaths due to strokes since 2011.
HIGH BLOOD PRESSURE PREVALENCE DECLINED IN 2020 WHILE DEATHS DUE TO STROKE INCREASED
High Blood Pressure: Percentage Ever Diagnosed and Death Rates due to Stroke in San Bernardino County, 2011-2020
GEOGRAPHIC DETAIL
San Bernardino County’s prevalence rate for heart disease was highest among neighboring counties and the state, except for Riverside County. At 15.7% in 2020, San Bernardino County had the highest diabetes prevalence among counties compared and this rate was higher than the overall statewide rate. Also in 2020, 28.5% of adults in San Bernardino County had high blood pressure, the highest among neighboring counties compared and California.
COUNTY HAS HIGHEST RATE OF DIABETES AND HIGH BLOOD PRESSURE
County Comparison of the Percentage Ever Diagnosed with Diabetes, High Blood Pressure, or Heart Disease, 2020
Hospitalizations due to Heart Failure and Hypertension Declined in Recent Years
In 2020, the hospitalization rates for heart failure and hypertension in San Bernardino County were 341.2 and 38.2 per 100,000 residents (risk-adjusted), respectively. While these rates mark a decrease from 2016, they are higher than the California hospitalization rate of 297.2 and 34.8 per 100,000 residents for heart failure and hypertension, respectively.
Heart Failure
Hypertension
[1] Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (www.cdc.gov/chronicdisease/overview/index.htm)
[2] Fully 70% of strokes can be directly linked to existing high blood pressure, making high blood pressure the single most important controllable stroke risk factor.