Cardiovascular health

Facts and figures

Background

• Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is a general term covering diseases of the heart and blood vessels including¹:
  • coronary heart disease – disease of the blood vessels supplying the heart muscle
  • cerebrovascular disease – disease of the blood vessels supplying the brain, such as stroke
  • peripheral arterial disease – disease of blood vessels supplying the arms and legs
  • rheumatic heart disease – damage to the heart muscle and heart valves from rheumatic fever, caused by streptococcal bacteria
  • congenital heart disease – malformations of heart structure existing at birth
  • deep vein thrombosis and pulmonary embolism – blood clots in the leg veins, which can dislodge and move to the heart and lungs.

The scale of the issue

• In Europe, CVD (principally coronary heart disease and stroke) is the main cause of death, responsible for 52% of all deaths in women and 42% of all deaths in men².
• In Europe, CVD causes the death of over 4 million people annually – and one death every 7 seconds³.
• CVD is projected to remain the single leading cause of death and, by 2030, almost 23.6 million people will die from CVD³.
• Overall, CVD is estimated to cost the EU economy €196 billion every year. Of the total cost of CVD in the EU, around 54% are health care costs, 24% productivity losses and 22% costs associated with informal care of people with CVD².