About Heart Attack Hospitalizations Data

Overview

This site provides data on the number and rate of heart attack hospitalizations in New York State (NYS). These data are presented by age groups, sex, ethnicity, and total population for various time frames. The table below shows key information about heart attack hospitalization data.

Data Source Statewide Planning and Research Cooperative System (SPARCS)
Data Type Hospitalizations
Timeframe 2000-2019
Geographic Coverage New York State by region, county, and sub-county
ICD-9-CM and ICD-10 Codes ICD-9: Primary Diagnosis code starts with 410
ICD-10: Primary Diagnosis code starts with I21 (12 codes) or I22 (5 codes)
Last Update February 2025

Interpreting Data

These data include people who had a heart attack that was serious enough to require hospitalization in NYS but excludes people who were not admitted to the hospital (e.g., people treated in nursing homes, outpatient settings, at home, or emergency rooms). The data may also reflect differences that could affect the likelihood of people experiencing or being hospitalized for a heart attack, such as access to medical care, sociodemographic characteristics, individual behaviors and exposures to environmental risk factors. Because of the likelihood that people who experience a heart attack require inpatient hospital care, this content area focus on hospitalizations. The data show the number of heart attack hospitalizations so if a person was hospitalized for one heart attack, discharged, then readmitted for a second heart attack, they would be counted twice.

Hospitalization counts are based on hospital admission date. The data are displayed as crude and age-adjusted rates of hospitalizations among NYS residents by county and sub-county aggregated areas. Read the Technical Notes for Sub-County Areas learn more about how sub-county areas in NYS were developed by the NYS Environmental Public Health Tracking program.

Calculating Rates

Crude Rates

Crude rates provide a general idea of how common a health outcome is occurring in a population. However, the crude rate doesn’t account for other factors such as the age or sex distribution of a population. Crude rates per 10,000 people were calculated by dividing the number of cases in the area by the total estimated population for age 35 and above then multiplying by 10,000. For crude rates calculated across multiple years, the total number of cases and the population were first summed across multiple years. The average annual crude rate was then determined by dividing the summed cases by the summed population and multiplying the result by 10,000. These calculations were performed in the same manner for state, region, county, and sub-county analyses.

Age-Adjusted Rates

Age-adjusted rates allow users to compare areas with different age distributions. This helps to account for differences in the rates of health outcomes across age groups. The age-adjusted rates presented on the EPH Tracker use the age distribution for the total population of NYS age 35 and above as a reference in calculations. Age-adjusted rates per 10,000 were calculated by first dividing the total number of cases by the total estimated population for each five-year age group starting at age 35. These five-year age group-specific rates were then multiplied by the NYS age group-specific weights (i.e. the proportion of the population in each age group). Because of smaller numbers of health outcomes, for sub-county age-adjusted rates two age groups (‘35-64’ and ‘65 and above’) were used to calculate age-specific rates (i.e. rather than five-year age groups). All weighted age-specific results were summed and multiplied by 10,000. For age-adjusted rates calculated across multiple years, the average age-specific rate was first calculated for the years of interest, then weighted, then multiplied by 10,000.

Maps, Charts, Tables

Maps and Tables

Maps of statewide heart attack hospitalizations are available by age-adjusted and crude rates for user-selected time frames. Users can compare heart attack hospitalization rates across counties and sub-county areas in the following regions: New York State (whole state), New York City (NYC), New York State Excluding New York City. Selecting the “NYS excluding NYC” option allows the user to clearly see differences in hospitalization rates between areas outside of NYC.

View by County/Sub-County

  • Heart attack Age-Adjusted Hospitalizations Rate
  • Heart attack Crude Hospitalizations Rate

Charts

Charts of statewide and regional heart attack hospitalizations age-adjusted and crude rates are available by demographic characteristics of age group, age group and sex, age group and race, and age group and ethnicity for user-selected year ranges of at least five years.

Age-specific rates per 10,000 population are displayed for the following age groups for all age group charts: - 35-44 years, 45-54 years, 55-64 years, 65-74 years, 75-84 years, and 85+ years. Users can compare heart attack hospitalization rates across following regions: New York State (whole state), New York City, New York State excluding New York City. Selecting the “NYS excluding NYC” option allows the user to more clearly see differences in hospitalization rates between areas outside of NYC.

View by Region/State

  • Heart attack Hospitalizations by Age Group
  • Heart attack Hospitalizations by Age Group and Sex
  • Heart attack Hospitalizations by Age Group and Ethnicity

About Unstable Rates

When an ED visit or hospitalization rate is based on small numbers, an increase or decrease of just one or two cases from year to year can cause the ED visit or hospitalization rate to change dramatically; such a rate is likely to be unstable. Unstable heart attack hospitalization rates are marked with the symbol (unstable rate) in the map, a hover-over pop-up shows when the rate is based on 11 to 20 cases. These rates should be interpreted with caution. Additionally, a rate is not calculated if there are 10 or fewer cases, as the number is too small to produce a reliable estimate.

Additional Information

  • In October 2015, reporting of diagnosis codes in the hospitalization and ED visit datasets switched from International Classification of Diseases, 9th Revision, Clinical Modification (ICD-9-CM) coding to International Classification of Diseases, 10th Revision, Clinical Modification (ICD-10-CM) coding. This may result in apparent changes in trends between 2015 and 2016 that are due solely to the switch from ICD-9-CM to ICD-10-CM.
  • For Hospitalizations that had a hospital admission date before October 1, 2015: A heart attack hospitalization is defined as having a principal diagnosis with an International Classification of Diseases, 9th Revision, Clinical Modification (ICD-9-CM) code of 410.
  • For Hospitalizations that had a hospital admission date on or after October 1, 2015: A heart attack hospitalization is defined as having a principal diagnosis with an International Classification of Diseases, 10th Revision, Clinical Modification (ICD-10-CM) code that starts with I21 (12 codes) or I22 (5 codes).
  • Population estimates used for calculating heart attack hospitalization rates were taken from the U.S. Census Bureau. State hospitalization rates are based on State Characteristics Population Estimates File, available at Population Estimates Data Sets. New York State county level hospitalization rates are based on County Characteristics Resident Population Estimates File, available at Population Estimates Data Sets.
  • Age-adjusted rates were calculated using the 2010 NYS population age 35 and above as the standard for weights.