Is Cardiovascular Disease Slowing Improvements in Life Expectancy?
OECD and The King's Fund Workshop Proceedings
Evidence that cardiovascular disease is contributing to the slowdown in improvements in life expectancy in some OECD countries prompted OECD and The King’s Fund to convene an international workshop to examine this issue. Invitees included members of OECD’s Health Care Quality and Outcomes Working Party and five international experts. This publication describes the workshop proceedings and conclusions about the evidence on trends in cardiovascular disease mortality, their drivers and the policy implications. The report includes contributions by the plenary speakers, Susanne Løgstrup (European Heart Network), Jessica Ho (University of Southern California), Catherine Johnson (Institute of Health Metrics and Evaluation), Anton Kunst (Amsterdam AMC) and Martin O’Flaherty (University of Liverpool). It shows cardiovascular disease is an important contributor to slowing life expectancy improvements in some countries, and flags some measurement problems such as international differences and changes in diagnostic practices and cause of death coding, and the complex linkages between cardiovascular disease and other causes of death. The report calls for improvements in national and international data and monitoring to support more timely and effective policy responses for preventing, managing and treating cardiovascular disease, and for tackling socio-economic and gender inequalities.
Global trends in cardiovascular disease – an update from the Global Burden of Disease Study
The results of the Global Burden Disease study suggest that the decrease in cardiovascular mortality seen in most high-income countries over the past few decades is levelling off in countries like South Korea, France, Australia, Germany, Austria, Japan, and the United States among those aged 70 years, and is increasing in Latvia, Estonia, Greece and Portugal. Similar patterns were observed among those aged 50‑ 69, with some exceptions – for example, rates in South Korea and Austria among younger ages continue to decrease even in more recent years. Evidence suggests that the prevalence of common risk factors for cardiovascular disease, including elevated low-density lipoprotein cholesterol and systolic blood pressure, is increasing, leading to expected increases in mortality burden. Locally targeted population interventions are needed in order to appropriately assess and intervene with groups at risk; together with timely monitoring of both cardiovascular mortality and common risk factors over time.
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