Mortality decrease from cardiovascular disease in Europe: 50 % in 30 years!

While it is known that European mortality rates from heart disease have substantially decreased within all age groups, it has been assumed that this decline might not be seen in younger adults. In younger people, the benefits from reduced smoking might be offset by increases in obesity, diabetes, and other potential risk factors for cardiovascular disease. Nichols et al. mortality data provided by the World Health Organisation (WHO) for 26 countries in the European Union from 1980 to 2009. The data were recently reported online in the European Heart Journal [1]. The aim of the study was to examine sex-specific trends in cardiovascular mortality between 1980 and 2009 in the European Union and compare trends between adult age groups. The authors investigated trends in deaths from coronary heart disease between 1980 and 2009 in both men and women divided into four age groups: younger than 45 years, 45 to 54 years, 55 to 64 years, and 65 years or older. In many countries, the age-standardised mortality rate in 2009 was less than 50 % compared with the figures in the 1980s. The largest decreases in mortality for both men and women were seen in Denmark, the Netherlands, Sweden, the United Kingdom, and Malta, respectively, ranging from minus 72 % for men in Denmark to minus 57 % for men in Malta. On the other hand, there were only small decreases among men in Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, and Poland, whereas there was a significant 29 % increase among Romanian men, indicating wide disparities across Europe. Absolute coronary heart disease mortality rates among young adults were low compared with older age groups. However, in terms of percentages, between 1980 and 2009 coronary heart disease mortality rates in individuals younger than 45 years decreased as fast as for all ages combined in 22 of 26 countries for men and around 50 % of the countries for women. Among the individuals below 45 years, downward trends appeared to be slowing in both men and women in Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, and the United Kingdom, as well as among men in Poland and Slovakia, and among women in the Czech Republic and France. In the individuals between 45 and 54 years, decreases appeared to be slowing in both women and men in Latvia and the United Kingdom, in women in Lithuania, and in men in Austria, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, and Sweden. In Greece, women between …