Cardiovascular diseases of the heart and blood vessels are the number one cause of death worldwide, and increasingly prevalent in developing countries. They are primarily triggered by lifestyle factors like smoking, diet, and physical inactivity.
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Cases Worldwide: unknown; an estimated 17.5 million deaths in 2005
Main Causes: smoking, lack of exercise, unhealthy diet, diabetes
Distribution: worldwide; highest prevalence in Russia, Eastern Europe, Central Asia, India
Cardiovascular diseases (CVD) include diseases of the blood vessels that supply the heart, brain or limbs, hypertension, damage to the heart muscle and valves, and blood clots. Fatty deposits or blood clots block arteries that supply the heart and brain causing heart attacks and strokes.
Globally, CVD are the number one cause of death, accounting for 17.5 million fatalities in 2005, about 30 percent of all deaths. Of these, 7.6 million were due to heart attacks and 5.7 million due to stroke. About 80 percent of these deaths occurred in low- and middle-income countries with particularly high prevalence in Russia, Eastern Europe and Central Asia.
Cardiovascular diseases are chronic diseases that develop over a lifetime, often going undetected until a catastrophic heart attack or stroke. They are most prevalent among elderly people and so the global disease burden from these conditions grows with aging populations and increased longevity. By 2015, an estimated 20 million people will die from CVD every year.
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The major causes of CVD are environmental: tobacco use, physical inactivity, and diets high in fat and low in fruit and vegetables. These lead to raised blood pressure, raised blood glucose and cholesterol, overweight, and obesity. Other risk factors include rheumatic fever leading to heart damage, diabetes, and genetic inheritance.
The underlying causes behind many CVD are urbanization, increasing longevity, and more sedentary lifestyles. Poverty and high levels of stress are also major factors and it has been shown that lower socio-economic groups are at greater risk. It is expected that over 80 percent of the future increase in coronary heart disease mortality will occur in developing countries.
These groups may not have access to the prevention, detection and treatment measures available to more affluent people, such as drugs to manage hypertension and statins to lower cholesterol. Some effective drugs are affordable: Aspirin, for example, can help prevent blood from clotting and so reduce the risk of heart attack or stroke.
CVD can also be treated with pacemakers, prosthetic valves, and patches for closing holes in the heart, while cardiovascular surgery has advanced rapidly, with bypass surgery, heart transplants, and even artificial hearts established treatments.
These treatments are costly, however, and CVD places enormous burdens on the healthcare and social security systems of aging populations; the World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that from 2006 to 2015 China will lose 558 billion dollars due to the combination of heart disease, stroke, and diabetes.
Thanks to improved healthcare, reduced cigarette smoking among adults, and lower levels of blood pressure and blood cholesterol, death rates have decreased in North America and many western European countries. To lower their risk of CVD individuals should take regular exercise, avoid fatty, salty or sugary foods, eat plenty of fibre, fruit and vegetables, and not smoke.
Government policies such as tobacco control, taxation to reduce the intake of foods that are high in fat, sugar and salt, building walking and cycle ways to increase physical activity, and providing healthy school meals are all promoted by the WHO as effective ways for countries to fight the creeping epidemic of cardiovascular diseases.
editor: James Tulloch
publication date: February 26, 2009
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