More people dying of heart disease, stroke worldwide while mortality rates dip

As per a new study, global cardiovascular deaths continue to rise despite gains in prevention and treatment.

As the global population pushes past 7 billion and more people reach old age, the number of deaths from cardiovascular diseases is on the rise. Cardiovascular diseases, the leading cause of premature death in the world, include heart attacks, strokes, and other circulatory diseases. At the same time, efforts to prevent and treat cardiovascular diseases appear to be working as the rise in deaths is slower than the overall growth of the population.

Globally, the number of deaths due to cardiovascular diseases increased by 41 percent between 1990 and 2013, climbing from 12.3 million deaths to 17.3 million deaths. Over the same period, death rates within specific age groups dropped by 39percent, according to an analysis of data from 188 countries. Death rates from cardiovascular diseases were steady or fell in every region of the world except western sub-Saharan Africa, where the rates increased.

The University of Washington study noted that progress in fighting cardiovascular diseases is evident around the world but varies by region. South Asia, which includes India, experienced the largest jump in total deaths due to cardiovascular diseases, with 1.8 million more deaths in 2013 than in 1990, an increase of 97 percent. In line with global trends, the increase in deaths from cardiovascular disease in India is driven by population growth and aging without the decrease in age-specific death rates found in many other countries.

This pattern is reversed to some extent in the Middle East and North Africa, which includes countries such as Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, and Jordan. In these regions, population growth and aging have been offset by a significant decline in age-specific death rates from cardiovascular disease, which has kept the increase in deaths to just fewer than 50 percent.

Central Europe and Western Europe have managed to reduce death rates by 5.2 percent and also the total number of deaths from cardiovascular diseases by 12.8 percent, between 1990 and 2013.

Researcher Gregory Roth added that cardiovascular diseases will remain a global threat as the population grows and people age, but the progress seen in some regions shows that reducing the toll of cardiovascular diseases is possible.

IHME Director Christopher Murray said that addressing the range of factors that contribute to cardiovascular disease will help ensure that fewer people around the world die from it prematurely. Investments and policies aimed at targeting preventable risk factors can reduce the impact of cardiovascular disease.

The study appears in The New England Journal of Medicine.