Cardiovascular disease: Burden, epidemiology and risk factors

Abstract

Cardiovascular disease (CVD), mainly ischaemic heart disease and stroke, is the leading cause of mortality in the majority of countries, with the total burden increasing in many countries largely due to population growth and aging. However, age-adjusted CVD mortality rates are decreasing in most countries as a result of improved prevention and treatment efforts. This also largely accounts for the significant improvements in life expectancy in most countries. Age-standardized rates of CVD greatly vary across countries and are often significantly higher in some low- and middle-income countries than in high-income countries, in large part due to differences in the prevalence of risk factors. A small number of modifiable risk factors, behavioural (e.g. tobacco use, unhealthy diet, physical inactivity), environmental (e.g. air pollution), and metabolic (e.g. high blood pressure, dyslipidaemia, diabetes, high body mass index) account for a large proportion of the CVD disease burden. This emphasizes the importance of interventions on these factors to prevent and treat CVD. The relationship between CVD and economic development, globalization and urbanization is also discussed.