Article

Cardiovascular diseases (CVD) and cancer are worldwide main causes of
death with mortality trends varying across countries with different levels of
economic development. METHODS: We analysed trends in CVD and cancer
mortality for 37 European countries, five high-income non-European countries and
four leading emerging economies (BRICS) using data from the World Health
Organization database for the period 1980-2010.
RESULTS: In high-income
countries, CVD mortality trends are characterized by steep declines over the last
decades, while a downward trend in cancer mortality started more recently and was
less pronounced. This resulted in the gradual convergence of the CVD and cancer
mortality rates, and the latter are already higher in some countries. The
absolute number of CVD deaths decreased in most settings, while cancer deaths
increased in nearly all countries. Among the BRICS, China and South Africa share
a similar pattern of no meaningful variation in both CVD and cancer
age-standardized mortality rates and an increase in the overall number of deaths
by these causes. Brazil presents trends similar to those of high-income
countries, except for the still increasing number of CVD deaths. CONCLUSIONS: The
substantial decreases in CVD mortality over the last decades have overcome the
impact of the growth and ageing of populations in the overall number of deaths,
while stabilization in the number of cancer deaths was observed only in some of
the high-income countries.
CI - (c) The European Society of Cardiology 2013 Reprints and permissions:
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Langue : ANGLAIS