Asia, Europe, Africa, Middle East at greatest risk of deaths from heart-diseases: Study

New Delhi: Regions of Asia, Europe, Africa and the Middle East are estimated to have the highest burden of deaths due to heart-related diseases, with high blood pressure, raised cholesterol, dietary risks and air pollution being the leading causes, a study has found.

Globally, heart-disease related deaths increased from 12.4 million in 1990 to 19.8 million in 2022, signifying high rates of such illnesses, the researchers found after analysing data from across 21 regions. They further found these deaths to have increased from 2015-2022 in 27 out of the 204 locations studied.

The researchers, including those from the National Institutes of Health and Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME), University of Washington, US, said that these numbers also reflected global population growth and ageing and the contributions from preventable metabolic, environmental, and behavioural risks.

"The 2023 Almanac represents an important resource for using locally relevant data to inform local-level actions for heart-healthy and thriving communities," said study author George A. Mensah, director at the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI), US.

The research team found that ischemic heart disease remained the leading cause of global cardiovascular disease (CVD) mortality with an age-standardised rate of about 110 deaths per 1,00,000 population, followed by brain hemorrhage and ischemic stroke. They have published their findings in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.

Ischemia refers to the development of local anaemia in a given body part sometimes resulting from malfunction in blood vessels, such as enlargement or clotting.

The researchers also said that the highest mortality rates per 1,00,000 people attributable to high systolic blood pressure were found in the regions of Central Asia, Eastern Europe, North Africa and the Middle East.

Further, the highest rates of heart-disease burden attributable to dietary risk were in Central Asia, Oceania, and parts of North Africa and the Middle East, they said.

"Cardiovascular diseases are a persistent challenge that lead to an enormous number of premature and preventable deaths," said Gregory A. Roth, senior author of the paper and associate professor at IHME.

At 553 deaths per 1,00,000 population, Eastern Europe had the highest total CVD death rates, while countries in Australasia were found to have the lowest of these rates at 122.5 deaths per 1,00,000 people.

"There are many inexpensive, effective treatments. We know what risk factors we need to identify and treat. There are simple healthy choices that people can make to improve their health. This atlas provides detailed information on where countries stand in their efforts to prevent and treat cardiovascular diseases," said Roth.

The researchers form a part of the Global Burden of Cardiovascular Diseases Collaboration, an alliance between the Journal, IHME and NHLBI launched in 2020.

Serving as an update to 2022's Global Burden of Diseases (GBD) Study, the 2023 publication includes data from 204 countries and territories, highlighting the leading global modifiable cardiovascular risk factors, their contribution to disease burden and recent prevention advancements, the researchers said.