A study revealed that there are lesser people that die of heart disease in Europe for the past three decades.
Mortality rate due to heart-related diseases were over 50 percent in different European countries back in the 1980s making each country develop their own strategies in changing this trend as it became the leading cause of death almost anywhere.
Nick Townsend, lead author of the study and senior researcher of the Department of Public Health British Heart Foundation Health Promotion Research Group, worked with a team of researchers from Britain's Oxford University to measure the mortality trend over the past decades.
The team found out that the mortality rate dropped significantly. "For the most part and for most countries this is good news - the death rates have come down quite substantially in the last 30 years," wrote Townsend in the study.
"But what we don't want to say is that the job is done, because we know by looking at trends in other conditions that they could reverse the trends we've worked so hard to achieve in heart disease."
The team analyzed the death records related to coronary heart disease between 1980 and 2009 on both genders in four age groups: below 45, 45 to 54, 55 to 64, and 65 years and above.
They found out that almost all European countries had a considerable decline in the mortality rates related to heart disease in both genders and all age groups. Among all countries, Britain, The Netherlands, Malta, and Denmark had the biggest decline while Hungary, Lithuania, Latvia, and Poland showed little improvement.
The study didn’t mention about the causes of the decline which the team said further research is needed to uncover those. However, they were looking at possible causes such as the statins that treat high cholesterol and anti-hypertensives that treat high blood pressure. They were also looking at the possibility of the benefit of lower rates of smoking.
This study was published in the online journal of the European Heart Journal.
