Association between Socio-economic Factors and Geographical Pattern of Death Due to Cardiovascular Diseases in Kurdistan Province

Background and purpose: The aims of this study were to investigate the geographical distribution of mortality rates caused by cardiovascular diseases in Kurdistan province and to identify the high risk areas. Materials and methods: This ecological study was done using the data on mortality due to due to cardiovascular disease in Kurdistan province, Iran 2013-2015. To determine the standardized mortality rates and effective factors, Poisson model and negative binomial model were fitted to the data and the Akaike Information Criterion (AIC) was used to identify the most efficient model. Data analysis was done in R software and the maps were drawn using Arc GIS10 software. Results: A total of 8596 (41.54% from total deaths in the province) death due to cardiovascular diseases was reported in 55.6% males (mean age: 69.1±20.8 years) and 44.2% females (mean age: 71.86±19.7 years). The overall mortality rate was 178 per hundred thousand. The death rate caused by cardiovascular diseases was not symmetric throughout Kurdistan province. However, the rate was higher in Southern areas. The negative binomial model showed mean age (RR=0.29, P>0.001), sex ratio (RR=25.02, P=0.02), number of emergency departments (RR>0.001, P>0.001), and literacy ratio (RR=0.9, P>0.001) to be significantly associated with mortality rates of cardiovascular disease. Conclusion: According to current study, enhancing the awareness of people and suitable facilities in emergency services could considerably reduce mortality rates due to cardiovascular disease.