Cardiovascular Disease Mortality in the Americas: Current Trends and Disparities

Background: Cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) are the leading causes of death in the Americas. There is a need for information about current trends in CVDs in the Region. Objective: To describe the current situation and trends on mortality due to CVD in the Americas and explore their association with economic indicators. Methods: We analyzed age-adjusted mortality rates from 21 countries in the Americas from 2000 to the latest available year. Regression analysis was used to estimate the annual variation and the association between age-adjusted rates and country income. Results: Currently, CVDs comprised 33.7% of all deaths in the Americas. Among CVDs, ischaemic heart diseases were 42.5% and cerebrovascular diseases were 22.5%. Rates were higher in Guyana (292/100,000), Trinidad&Tobago (289/100,000) and Venezuela (246/100,000), and lower in Canada (108/100,000), Puerto Rico (121/100,000) and Chile (125/100,000). Male's rates were higher than female's in all countries. The trend analysis showed that CVD mortality rates in the Americas declined -19 % overall (-20% among females and -18% among males). Most countries had a significant annual decline, except Guatemala, Guyana, Suriname, Paraguay and Panama. The largest annual declines were observed in Canada (-4.8%), the USA (-3.9%) and Puerto Rico (-3.6%). Minor declines were in Mexico (-0.8%) and Cuba (-1.1%). Compared to high income countries the difference between the median of mortality rates in lower middle income countries was 56.7% higher and between upper middle income countries was 20.6% higher. Conclusions: It is important to strengthen cooperation among countries in the Americas, exchanging high cost-effective interventions and evidence-based prevention strategies.