CHRONIC DISEASES REMAIN STUBBORN PROBLEM WITH LITTLE LASTING PROGRESS
Chronic diseases – including diabetes, high blood pressure, and heart disease – are costly yet largely preventable. Chronic illnesses contribute to a substantial proportion of the nation’s health-related costs and remain the leading causes of illness, disability, and death in America.[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 ever diagnosed with heart disease increased from 5.5% in 2023 to 6.5% in 2024. In 2024, San Bernardino County’s death rate due to heart disease was 170.3 deaths per 100,000 residents. This marks a 12.9% increase since 2015 when the death rate was 150.9 per 100,000 residents, and a one-year increase of 3.7% since 2023 when the death rate was 164.3 per 100,000.
WHILE HEART DISEASE PREVALENCE IS MODESTLY LESS OVER THE PAST 10 YEARS, DEATHS HAVE INCREASED
Heart Disease: Percentage Ever Diagnosed and Death Rates in San Bernardino County, 2015-2024
Diabetes
In 2024, 11.5% of adults in San Bernardino County had been diagnosed with diabetes. This is a decrease from 2023 when diabetes prevalence was 17.0%, but an increase from 2015, when 10.2% of adults in the county had a diabetes diagnosis. Deaths due to diabetes increased from 28.9 deaths per 100,000 residents in 2015 to 32.8 deaths per 100,000 residents in 2024. There has been, however, a decrease in deaths due to diabetes per 100,000 residents every year since 2020.
DESPITE ANNUAL FLUCTUATIONS, 10-YEAR TRENDS IN DIABETES PREVALENCE AND DEATHS ARE GRADUALLY UPWARD
Diabetes: Percentage Ever Diagnosed and Death Rates in San Bernardino County, 2015-2024
Blood Pressure / Stroke[2]
In 2024, 29.5% of adults in San Bernardino County had high blood pressure, which is a slightly lower proportion than in 2023 when 30.2% of adults had high blood pressure. Deaths due to strokes, which are associated with high blood pressure, increased 1.3%, from 39.3 deaths per 100,000 in 2023 to 39.8 in 2024. The long-term trend is also upward, with a 23% increase in deaths per 100,000 due to strokes since 2015.
STROKE DEATHS INCREASED OVER PAST 10 YEARS WHILE HIGH BLOOD PRESSURE PREVALENCE GRADUALLY DECLINES
High Blood Pressure: Percentage Ever Diagnosed and Death Rates due to Stroke in San Bernardino County, 2015-2024
GEOGRAPHIC COMPARISON
San Bernardino County’s prevalence rate for heart disease (6.5%) was lowest among neighboring counties and the state, except for Los Angeles County. Also in 2024, 11.5% of adults in San Bernardino County had diabetes, the lowest among neighboring counties compared and California, except for San Diego County. However, at 29.5%, San Bernardino County had the highest high blood pressure prevalence among neighboring counties compared and the overall statewide rate.
SAN BERNARDINO COUNTY HAS LOWER RATES OF DIABETES AND HIGH BLOOD PRESSURE COMPARED WITH NEIGHBORS
County Comparison of the Percentage Ever Diagnosed with Diabetes, High Blood Pressure, or Heart Disease, 2024
Hospitalizations Rates Due to Heart Failure and Hypertension Higher than California
In 2024, the hospitalization rates for heart failure (a chronic condition where the heart does not pump blood efficiently) and hypertension (high blood pressure) in San Bernardino County were 467.7 and 82.3 per 100,000 residents (risk-adjusted), respectively. These are higher than the California hospitalization rates of 363.9 and 56.2 per 100,000 residents for heart failure and hypertension, respectively. The five-year trend for heart failure hospitalizations is up 25%, while the hospitalization rates for hypertension is up 91%.
Heart Failure
Hypertension
[1] Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (www.cdc.gov/chronic-disease/about/index.html)
[2] More than half of strokes can be directly linked to existing high blood pressure, making high blood pressure an important controllable stroke risk factor (https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC2443694/).