What is a Heart Attack?

A heart attack occurs when an artery that carries blood to your heart becomes blocked, usually by a blood clot.

Heart disease is the second leading cause of death for all women in South Carolina, and is the leading killer for African-American women in the Palmetto State.

Stroke is South Carolina's 5^th Biggest Killer.

• 20,879: The number of emergency department visits for stroke in South Carolina in 2022.
• 17,765: The number of hospitalizations for stroke in South Carolina in 2022.
• $1.5 billion: The total hospitalization charges due to stroke in South Carolina in 2022. 

Fact Sheets

• State of the Heart: Heart Disease and Stroke in South Carolina (pdf)
• State of the Heart for African Americans: Heart Disease in South Carolina (pdf)
• State of the Heart for Women: Heart Disease in South Carolina (pdf)

Related Information

• Eating for Heart Health

Below is a quick guide to your heart-healthy numbers:

About Cholesterol

• Cholesterol is a fat-like substance in your body
• High levels of cholesterol in your blood can lead to heart disease
• Nearly 42% of adults in South Carolina have high cholesterol

Types of Cholesterol

Low

High Blood Pressure in South Carolina

About 1 in 3 South Carolinians have been told by a doctor that they have high blood pressure, also called hypertension. Thousands more South Carolinians have high blood pressure and don't know it.

Heart Disease is South Carolina's Leading Cause of Death

• 11,385- The number of people who died from heart disease in South Carolina in 2020.
• Heart Disease accounted for 75,886 hospitalizations in South Carolina in 2020.
• Total hospitalization charges of more than $6.8 billion related to heart disease. 

What is Heart Disease?

Heart disease is a broad term that refers to several types of heart conditions.

DPH established the Hospital Infections Disclosure Act (HIDA) Advisory Committee as required by the HIDA legislation. The Committee is a multi-disciplinary group with set voting member organizations; representatives of consumers and the general public are also key participants. The member organizations nominate a representative and set their own guidelines for representative rotation schedules. After nomination from their organization, these voting representatives are approved by DPH.

South Carolina State and Regional Antibiograms

These antibiograms were created to monitor resistance across the State of South Carolina. We hope that individual institutions that may not have access to facility-level antibiograms may utilize these to improve empiric antimicrobial prescribing across the state.

This is an ongoing project; ASC-SC will continue to collect antibiograms each year to create a yearly statewide antibiogram.