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Long term correlation between cancer and cardiovascular deaths according to various trends in Slovak districts
Mária Letkovicová1, Hana Zach, Martin Letkovic
1Environment a.s., Centre of Biostatistics and Environment, Nitra, Slovak Republic. letkovicova@environment.sk
Insights
Recorded cardiovascular deaths in Slovakia may not reflect true numbers, potentially including other causes. Mortality patterns vary by district, influenced by death certification quality.
Area of Science:
- Epidemiology
- Public Health
- Biostatistics
Background:
- Official statistics on cardiovascular deaths (CVD) may be inaccurate.
- Death certifications can misattribute causes of mortality.
- Understanding regional variations in mortality is crucial for public health.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate discrepancies in recorded cardiovascular deaths versus actual mortality.
- To analyze geographical variations in causes of death across Slovak districts.
- To assess the correlation between cardiovascular, cancer, and other causes of death.
Main Methods:
- Analysis of 519,680 death notifications from the Statistical Office of the Slovak Republic over 10 years.
- Utilized fuzzy c cluster analysis and basic epidemiological/statistical methods.
- Categorized causes of death into cancer, cardiovascular deaths (CVD), and other deaths.
Main Results:
- Identified Slovak districts with consistently high and low mortality rates.
- Found a significant correlation between cancer and cardiovascular deaths across districts.
- Observed an inverse relationship: districts with higher CVD had lower cancer/other deaths, and vice versa.
Conclusions:
- Recorded CVD mortality may not accurately represent the true burden of cardiovascular disease.
- Regional differences in mortality patterns are likely influenced by the quality and completeness of death certification.
- Standardizing death certification practices could improve the accuracy of mortality statistics.
Abstract:
The aim of the article was to point out recorded cardiovascular deaths did not copy the real number of cardiovascular deaths, but may also include other causes of deaths. We evaluated all death notifications reported to the Statistical Office of the Slovak republic during the 10-year period, that is 519,680 cases in total. We analysed the year of death, location of death and the cause of death. The causes of deaths were split into three groups: cancer deaths, cardiovascular deaths (CVD) and other deaths. We used the fuzzy c cluster analysis and the basic epidemiological and statistical methods for the evaluation. We uncovered some Slovak districts had long-term higher mortality (Lucenec, Rimavská Sobota, Roznava, Trebisov and Krupina), as well as the other districts having the long-term lower mortality (Bratislava, Kosice, almost all Zilina region, Poprad, Spisská Nová Ves and Dunajská Streda). The cancer and cardiovascular deaths significantly correlated in terms of the Slovak districts. Evaluating the mutual causes of death proportion we identified two groups of Slovak districts; the first group of districts showing higher CVD deaths had lower cancer and other deaths, the second having higher proportion of cancer and other deaths reached the lower CVD deaths. It seems deaths have the similar pattern throughout the whole country, and the numerical differences are probably given only by the quality and the quantity of the death certification.
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