All of these premature deaths could be prevented by quitting smoking, controlling blood pressure, keeping cholesterol levels in check and taking aspirin when recommended by a physician, public health experts said. *Preventable (avoidable) deaths are defined as those from ischemic heart disease, stroke, chronic rheumatic heart disease, and hypertensive disease in people under age 75, although changes in health habits and the health care system can reduce death among all ages.  Nearly 1 in 3 deaths in the US each year is caused by heart disease and stroke. Preventable deaths per 100,000 people: 
 
 Men: 
 
 Black: 143 
 
 American Indian/Alaska Native: 90 
 
 White: 81 
 
 Hispanic: 63 
 
 Asian Pacific Islander: 47 
 
 Women: 
 
 Black: 78 
 
 American Indian/Alaska Native: 46 
 
 White: 36 
 
 Hispanic: 30 
 
 Asian Pacific Islander: 22 
 
 
 
 Counties with the highest risk of preventable heart disease and stroke deaths from 2008-2010 are located primarily in the southern Appalachian region and much of Tennessee, Arkansas, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Oklahoma, whereas the lowest risk counties are located in the West, Midwest, and Northeast census regions.
– Quitting smoking, keeping blood pressure and cholesterol levels down, and popping the odd aspirin could stop hundreds of thousands of Americans from dying unnecessarily every year. That's according to a new report by the CDC, which says 200,000 heart disease and stroke deaths each year are preventable, the LA Times reports. "These findings are really striking. We're talking about hundreds of thousands of deaths that don't have to happen," says the CDC's director. "It's possible for us to make rapid and substantial progress in reducing these deaths." The good news from the report is that the number of these preventable deaths decreased by 29% between 2001 and 2010. The bad news is that was mostly for people aged 65-74—the percentage remains virtually unchanged for people under 65, who accounted for more than half of these deaths last year. Men were twice as likely to die of these causes as women, blacks almost twice as likely as whites, and victims are disproportionately likely to live in Tennessee, Arkansas, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Oklahoma (the CDC has an informative but depressing map on this).