Heart disease risk increased in eastern Germany

More deaths in East Germany than in the rest of the Federal Republic

06/01/2014

Coronary heart disease and chronic cardiovascular disease, in the course of which it will die, will be among the leading causes of death in Germany in 2014 as well. But not everywhere, statistics show, the likelihood of dying from one of these civilization illnesses is the same.

People from the eastern German states are more affected than their fellow citizens from the West German states. Even deaths as a result of cancer are diagnosed more frequently in East Germany than in the rest of Germany. That's from Statistics of the causes of death of the statistics office „Eurostat“ from 2012, an evaluation of regional death data for the newspaper „world“ has undertaken.

High age is one reason for the higher mortality rate
According to this, the death rate in Saxony-Anhalt is highest. For every 100,000 inhabitants, 1310 deaths occurred in 2013. There were not many in any other federal state. One reason for this is the aging population, especially in the new federal states. Among the five federal states with the highest mortality rates are Saxony, Thuringia and Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. Saarland is the only exception. But why are the widespread diseases heart disease or cancer in eastern Germany more widespread than in West Germany? The researchers have identified several factors that may account for the higher mortality rate. After the German-German reunification mortality increased in the new federal states, especially among men. In the 1970s, overall mortality in the new federal states fell more sharply than in the elderly.

Current data show that in addition to aging, socioeconomic factors such as education and income have influenced this development. After reunification, more and more young people have left the eastern German states. In the time of emigration, nearly 240,000 people a year made their way to the West because there were more jobs there. Affected by the exodus of young people were mainly the rural areas and left behind the elderly.

The Federal Statistical Office had determined that in 2012, 92 percent of those who died as a result of heart disease were older than 65 or older. This trend will certainly be confirmed in the future due to the age structure in East Germany, because it is precisely the old people who will die from the consequences of a chronic cardiovascular disease or cancer. Saxony-Anhalt is in this period with 609 deaths of 100,000 inhabitants, which occurred as a result of heart disease, at the top of the federal states. Then come Saxony, Thuringia and Brandenburg.

Berlin has the lowest mortality rate
According to the statisticians, Berlin had only 345 cases per 100,000 inhabitants in the same period, the lowest value of all federal states. Also in Hamburg, in Baden-Wuerttemberg and in Hessen the mortality rate is particularly low. Based on the statistics of Berlin and Saxony-Anhalt, the difference between East and West Germany can be seen particularly well. According to the data in Saxony-Anhalt, the probability of dying from heart disease is 76 percent higher than in Berlin. The second most common cause of death, the tumors or cancers, it looks similar. In a regional comparison, Saxony-Anhalt has the highest mortality here as well. In 2010, there were 354 fatal cancers per 100,000 inhabitants. People who live in Dessau, Halle and Magdeburg, therefore, are about 50 percent more likely to die of cancer than, for example, in Baden-Württemberg, the federal state with the lowest mortality from cancer. But not only the population structure is responsible for the results. Physicians see further reasons in the local environmental impact and eating habits of the residents. A major factor, however, is the use of screening, because the earlier a cancer is detected, the higher the likelihood of surviving with appropriate therapy. (Fr)