About Cardiovascular Disease in Europe

Figures

• Each year cardiovascular disease (CVD) causes over 4.3 million deaths in Europe and    over 2.0 million deaths in the European Union (1)
• CVD causes nearly half of all deaths in Europe (48%) and in the EU (42%) (1)
• CHD by itself is the single most common cause of death before the age of 65 in Europe (1)
• 20% of the coronary patients had previously diagnosed diabetes (2)
• Overall CVD is estimated to cost the European Union economy 192€ billion a year (1)
• Of the total cost of CVD in the EU, around 57% is due to health care costs, 21% due to productivity losses and 22% due to informal care of people with CVD (1)
• CVD is the main cause of death in women in all countries of Europe and is the main cause of death in men in all countries except France, the Netherlands and Spain (1)
• Death rates from CHD are generally higher in Central and Eastern Europe than in Northern, Southern and Western Europe (1)
• A higher proportion of premature deaths from CVD are due to smoking. In Europe, smoking causes 32% of CVD deaths in men aged 35 to 69 years and 6% of CVD deaths in women of the same age (1)

Trends

• Lifestyle interventions and risk factor modification reduce cardiovascular morbidity and mortality (2)
• There is considerable variation between European countries in patient lifestyles, especially for smoking (30% in Hungary, 15% in Italy), and in the use of prophylactic drug therapies (2)
• Coronary surgery patients who stop smoking are more likely to survive (2)
• Risk of CVD is directly related to blood cholesterol levels (1)
• Over 48 million adults in Europe and 23 million adults in the EU have diabetes and the prevalence is increasing (1)