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Cardiovascular Diseases Women and Eastern Europeans are at higher risk
Even though fewer and fewer people in Europe are dying from the consequences of cardiovascular diseases, these diseases are still among the leading causes of death. A new study now shows that the risk of suffering a heart attack or stroke is very unequally distributed across countries. Eastern Europeans are affected much more often. And women too.
Fewer deaths from cardiovascular disease
Just a few months ago, the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) announced that although there are fewer deaths from cardiovascular disease in Germany, more and more people are dying of heart attacks or strokes than in the OECD. Average. High blood pressure and diabetes, in particular, are increasing in young people. In other European countries too, the likelihood of dying of such diseases is decreasing, but the risk is very unequally distributed across nations. This shows a new study, as the news agency dpa reports.
High heart attack mortality rate in Eastern Europe. Image: william87 - fotolia Most common cause of death in Europe
For example, the study published in the journal "European Heart Journal" shows that significantly more people die of heart attacks and strokes in Eastern European countries than in other regions. As the authors write about Nicholas Townsend, life expectancy in these countries is also lower overall.
Townsend is head of research at the UK Heart Foundation at Oxford University. It is estimated that cardiovascular disease in Europe causes over four million lives a year. At 45 percent, they are the leading cause of death at all. Although older people are more likely to be affected than younger people, 700,000 people under 65 die every year from cardiovascular diseases.
Women are at a higher risk
"Women are statistically more likely to die from these diseases than men, but rather at a higher age," explained Townsend. The German Heart Report 2014 also came to a similar conclusion: In Germany, significantly more women than men die of heart disease, such as atrial fibrillation, with the exception of infarction. As Thomas Meinertz of the German Heart Foundation explained, it could be that women went to the doctor too late. In addition, experts referred to the finer vessels of women, which complicated operations and drug dosing. This is also because studies are mainly done on men.
Overweight in European countries is increasing
Townsend said mortality in Europe is declining steadily because of better treatments. However, the increase in risk factors such as overweight or obesity and diabetes could counteract this improvement. That this danger is increasing, also shows a warning the World Health Organization (WHO) pronounced a few months ago. The experts pointed out that Europeans are getting fatter and warned the European region of an "overweight crisis of enormous proportions" by the year 2030.
Significantly higher numbers in Eastern Europe
The trend towards higher life expectancy was taken into account in the current evaluation. "The most important problem with the aging population is probably that we will keep more people living with cardiovascular disease alive and that puts a greater burden on healthcare systems," said Townsend. In eight countries, the numbers are especially good for women. There are fewer than 250 deaths per 100,000 women in the following nations: France, Spain, Denmark, the Netherlands, Norway, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and Israel. Germany also compares favorably with 362 cases per 100,000 women. However, things are very different in the east of the continent. In Macedonia, Ukraine, Moldova, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan more than 1,000 out of every 100,000 women die from cardiovascular problems. However, according to the scientists, only data from the last two countries was available from 2005 and 1998 respectively.
Comparability of the data partly difficult
The situation is similar with the men. In Israel, France and Spain, there are fewer than 300 deaths per 100,000 men, but more than 1,500 in Ukraine and Turkmenistan. However, a WHO study has recently revealed that Turkmenistan now has the lowest proportion of smokers worldwide. This circumstance could contribute to reducing the risk of cardiovascular disease in the country. In Germany there are 477.2 deaths per 100,000 men. The scientists also admitted problems with the comparability of the data in these numbers. The study looked at countries that are considered by WHO to be European Region. This extends partly to Asia. (Ad)