Heart Health ABC's

Story first appeared on ABC News -

With more than 2 million heart attacks and strokes each year, and 800,000 deaths, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death for both men and women in the United States. One out of every three deaths is from heart disease and stroke.

These conditions are also the leading causes of disability, and they're costing this country a fortune -- together, heart disease and stroke hospitalizations in 2010 rang up $444 billion in health care expenses and lost productivity, according to the CDC.

It's the rare American who hasn't been touched by heart disease in some way. Just about all of us have known someone who has had cardiovascular illness, a heart attack or stroke. Heart problems can strike older folks, middle-agers, high schoolers, children -- even babies. No ethnicity is immune. And heart disease strikes people from all walks of life, famous or not.

But we can fight back against this scourge. Awareness is key.