Much less heart dead

Number of fatal cardiovascular diseases in Germany is declining sharply

12/10/2012

The number of deaths due to cardiovascular diseases is steadily decreasing in Germany. This was announced by the German Society of Cardiology (DHK) on the occasion of its autumn conference in Hamburg. The high survival chances of the patients are mainly due to the modern, improved treatment methods.

More male cardiac death due to heart attack
„The mortality rate of the most prevalent cardiovascular diseases is declining sharply in Germany, and the proportion of fatal heart diseases in all diseases is steadily declining“, explains the president of the DHK, Georg Ertl in the context of the annual meeting. „Between the end of the 1990s and 2010, the mortality rate in acute myocardial infarction and ischemic heart disease - diseases as a result of poor blood circulation - in Germany has fallen by about 20 percent.“

While around 76,000 people died in 1998 due to a heart attack, in 2010, acute cardiovascular disease was fatal for only about 55,500 patients. „The mortality from cardiovascular diseases varies greatly depending on the region“, Ertl explains. For example, in 2010 the death rate for chronic ischemic heart disease in Baden-Württemberg was 7.2 percent and for acute myocardial infarction 6.5 percent, compared to 11.3 percent and 8.5 percent in Saxony-Anhalt Circulatory diseases were due.

While men (7.5 percent) do not survive heart attacks more often than women (5.5 percent), heart failure causes more heart failure in women (7.2 percent) than in men (3.9 percent).

Better treatment options for cardiovascular diseases
According to DHK, the declining numbers of cardiac deaths are inextricably linked to advances in cardiology and cardiac surgery. „Dealing with such innovative treatments requires sound and efficient deployment that addresses issues of quality assurance, cost-effectiveness, and evidence-based issues“, explains Ertl. (Ag)

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