New national data reveal that deaths linked to peripheral artery disease (PAD) combined with hyperlipidemia have risen sharply over the past 25 years, with the steepest increases occurring among Hispanic and non-Hispanic Black adults. The study analyzed more than 148,000 deaths from 1999 to 2024 and found mortality climbing more than fivefold across the population, but with clear racial and geographic disparities.
Researchers reported that every racial and ethnic group saw rising age-adjusted mortality rates, yet Hispanic adults experienced the fastest acceleration, followed by non-Hispanic Black and non-Hispanic White individuals. By 2024, non-Hispanic Black adults had the highest average mortality rate overall, underscoring a disproportionate burden on communities already contending with structural barriers to cardiovascular care.
Geographic patterns deepened the inequities. Mortality rates were highest in the West and lowest in the Northeast, while rural communities consistently showed higher death rates than urban areas. Some states recorded nearly double the mortality levels of the lowest-burden states, illustrating how strongly access to prevention and treatment varies across regions.
The authors note that these disparities reflect differences in underlying risk factors, timely access to care, and disease recognition. They also point out that recent spikes in mortality—particularly from 2018 to 2021—intensified long-standing inequities, leaving racial minority communities and rural residents facing the greatest consequences.
See: “Trends and Disparities in Mortality Associated with Peripheral Artery Disease and Hyperlipidemia, 1999–2024” (November 22, 2025)
