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Cardiovascular disease

Overview

Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is an important public health issue, nationally and internationally. It accounts for almost half of all deaths in the UK and other industrial countries. Although CVD death rates are falling in the Western world, they are rapidly increasing in developing countries.

The WHO’s global burden of disease project suggests that in developed European countries cardiovascular disease (CVD) accounts for around 40% of years of life lost in early death (YLLs), 30% of years of life lost in disability (YLDs), and 17% of disability adjusted life years (DALYs). 1

Diseases of the circulation (ICD I00-99) caused about 184,000 deaths in England and Wales in 2005, 2 and 20,000 deaths in Scotland, 3 accounting for one in five male deaths and around one in six female deaths. Around 30% of these were premature, occurring before the age of 75. The most recent prevalence estimates suggested that about 4 million people in the UK are living with the symptoms and limitations imposed by CVD. 4 The total costs of cardiovascular disease in the UK are around £30 billion per year. 5 Tackling CVD requires robust public health intervention at a population level, as well as effective treatment of individuals.

References

  1. World Health Organisation. World health report 2003. Geneva: WHO, 2003 External Link
  2. Office for National Statistics. Mortality Statistics: cause. Series DH2 No32, 2005. External Link
  3. General Register Office for Scotland 2005. External Link
  4. British Heart Foundation Statistics Website. External Link (accessed 31dec 2006)
  5. Luengo-Fernández R, Leal J, Gray A, Petersen S, Raynor M. Cost of cardiovascular diseases in the United Kingdom. Heart 2006;92:1384-1389. External Link