Heart Disease, Stroke, Hypertension, and Diabetes Deaths in Minnesota
This page provides rates for cardiovascular and diabetes-related deaths in Minnesota. These data show the rate of death for each chronic condition. The rate is shown for every 100,000 people living in Minnesota.
Chronic conditions
Chronic conditions are health conditions or diseases that can last a year or more and may require ongoing medical treatment. They may also impact your physical health, mental well-being, daily life, and ability to do the activities you love.
Chronic conditions such as diabetes and heart disease are all tied very closely to where you live and work, your culture, and your daily activities. Healthy behaviors also play a role. Making healthy choices as much as possible can reduce your risk of developing a chronic condition. It can also help you feel healthier, enjoy life, and live longer.
When chronic conditions are not adequately managed or controlled, it is more likely that people with those conditions will develop serious health issues that lead to death. Higher death rates in specific population groups may mean they experience challenges in disease management and have more opportunities for improvement.
Chronic conditions can either be the direct cause of death or can contribute to the cause of death.
For more info, visit About Chronic Conditions.
Diabetes is a chronic disease that affects how your body turns food into energy
Most of the food you eat is broken down into sugar (also called glucose) and released into your bloodstream. Your pancreas makes a hormone called insulin, which acts like a key to let the blood sugar into your body's cells for use as energy.
If you have diabetes, your body either doesn't make enough insulin or can't use up the insulin it makes as well as it should.
Direct cause of death
Blood glucose levels that are extremely low or high lead to severe illness, hospitalization, and even death. Deaths caused by extreme blood sugar levels are considered directly caused by diabetes.
Contributing cause of death
Over time, lower levels of higher-than-normal blood sugars can cause serious health conditions such as heart disease, vision loss, and kidney disease. These conditions often lead to death in people with diabetes. If someone with diabetes dies of another condition but diabetes played a part in the development or worsening of that condition, diabetes is considered a contributing cause of death.
Note: deaths with diabetes listed as a contributing cause are not counted in deaths directly caused by diabetes.
For more info, visit Diabetes Basics.
Heart disease includes many conditions, including time-critical emergencies like heart attacks and cardiac arrest, as well as chronic conditions such as hypertensive heart diseases, congestive heart failure, irregular heartbeats, and other diseases of the heart muscle or heart valves.
Many of these conditions are caused by atherosclerosis (when plaque builds up in the arteries and makes it difficult for blood to flow through). This dashboard displays rates where heart disease was the direct cause of death.
High blood pressure, or hypertension, is a condition in which the pressure of the blood against the blood vessel walls is too strong. Over time, high blood pressure can cause damage to the vessels and lead to other problems, including heart disease, stroke, kidney disease, and dementia.
These conditions often lead to death in people with hypertension. If someone with high blood pressure dies of another condition but hypertension played a part in the development or worsening of that condition, hypertension is considered a contributing cause of death
For more info, visit About High Blood Pressure.
Strokes are time-critical emergencies that occur when the blood supply to the brain is suddenly stopped. There are two main types of strokes:
- The majority are ischemic strokes, which occur when a clot cuts off blood flow to the brain.
- A hemorrhagic stroke is less common and occurs when a blood vessel ruptures in the brain.
This dashboard displays rates where stroke was the direct cause of death.
How to use the data
This dashboard allows you to view death rates for heart disease, stroke, hypertension, and diabetes in Minnesota. You may choose to view crude or age-adjusted rates.
Visit How to Use Chronic Disease Data to find out which type of data is most appropriate for your needs. Rates are calculated as the number of deaths divided by the number of Minnesotans.
Deaths from chronic conditions in Minnesota
Race, ethnicity, and age
Minnesota has some of the biggest health disparities in the country between whites and people of color and American Indians. These health differences have in part resulted from structural racism, which refers to racism that is built into systems and policies, rather than individual prejudice. Systemic racism and discrimination-related stress also impacts Black, American Indian, and other marginalized communities, putting them at higher risk of developing chronic conditions.
For more information about how MDH shares race and ethnicity data, visit How to Use Chronic Disease Data.
Health disparities observed by race and ethnicity begin early in life, increasing risk for developing chronic conditions earlier, and therefore leading to more hospitalizations at younger ages. These disparities persist across the lifespan but are wider at younger age groups.
Among young adults, disparities continue due to the history of discriminatory practices in health care in addition to systemic barriers to timely access to health care such as coverage gaps, connectedness to the health care system, and limited access to quality health care facilities. These barriers impact the ability to manage chronic conditions and find preventative care which translates to a higher burden of hospitalizations.
Community factors influencing health
Health is created where people live, work, and play. Factors such as being able to find and afford nutritious food, experiencing discrimination and violence, or having safe housing and transportation, quality education, and a trusted support system all contribute to your health. These factors that impact your health are known as social determinants of health.
View data by some of these factors below.
County data
The map and table below show death rates by Minnesota county. Clicking on a county will show the overall death rate for that county. Diabetes as a direct cause is not included in county-level data due to small numbers of events for a majority of counties.
Trend data
The chart below shows how death rates have changed over time.
Data source
These results are analyses conducted by the Minnesota Department of Health based on data from the Minnesota Vital Statistics System (MVSS). Data was obtained through the MDH Center for Health Statistics. The MVSS compiles statistical data on all deaths to Minnesota residents. These data are provided to MVSS by the Office of Vital Records, the state entity responsible for registering the facts of birth and death in the State of Minnesota using information submitted by hospitals, clinics, or medical examiners.
Heart disease and stroke are shown as the direct cause of death only. Diabetes is included with rates as both the direct and contributing cause of death. Hypertension is shown as a contributing cause only. The first 20 listed causes are used to identify contributing cause. Only the first cause is used to identify direct causes of death. Below are the ICD-10 codes used to identify each condition.
- Diabetes: E10-E14
- Heart Disease: I00-I09, I11, I13, I20-I51
- Hypertension: I10-I15
- Stroke/Transient Ischemic Attack (TIA): I60-I69
Contact us
For more information, contact health.heart@state.mn.us.