Cardiovascular disease in Europe 2016: an epidemiological update

Extract

In this, the fourth in a series of papers describing the epidemiology of cardiovascular disease (CVD) in Europe, we present new data on the mortality, morbidity, and treatment of CVD across the continent. In previous publications, we have described inequalities in CVD burden across Europe, particularly in the form of higher age standardized deaths rates (ASDRs), in Eastern European countries. In this article, we also consider countries of the European Union (EU), with a lesser burden from CVD found in the EU-15 countries (those in the EU prior to the accession of ten candidate countries on the 1st of May) than in EU-28 countries (the 13 additional countries which have subsequently joined the EU) and non-EU countries.

Of all the deaths registered in EU-15 countries, 33% were caused by CVD, this compares with 38% of total deaths in EU-28 countries and 54% of deaths in non-EU member countries. In addition, although non-EU countries include Switzerland, Norway, and Israel, in which ASDRs for CVD are traditionally low, the highest ASDRs within Europe are found in countries which are not in the EU. When categorized by EU membership, the lowest rate for any one country, as well as the narrowest range in ASDRs, were both found amongst EU-15 countries. With 10 of the 15 EU-15 countries now suffering a greater number of deaths from cancer than CVD in men, accounting for all bar 2 of the countries in which this has happened, it is clear that these countries are more likely to make the transition from CVD to cancer as the most common cause of death. Most likely due to the large decreases in CVD mortality in preceding decades (Figure1).

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