Amenable mortality in the EU-has the crisis changed its course?

Did the global financial crisis and its aftermath impact upon the performance of health systems in Europe? We investigated trends in amenable and other mortality in the EU since 2000 across 28 EU countries.

We use WHO detailed mortality files from 28 EU countries to calculate age-standardized deaths rates from amenable and other causes. We then use joinpoint regression to analyse trends in mortality before and after the onset of the economic crisis in Europe in 2008.

Amenable and other mortality have declined in the EU since 2000, albeit faster for amenable mortality. We observed increases in amenable mortality following the global financial crisis for females in Estonia [from -4.53 annual percentage change (APC) in 2005-12 to 0.03 APC in 2012-14] and Slovenia (from -4.22 APC in 2000-13 to 0.73 in 2013-15) as well as males and females in Greece(males: from -2.93 APC in 2000-10 to 0.01 APC in 2010-13; females: from -3.48 APC in 2000-10 to 0.06 APC in 2010-13). Other mortality continued to decline for these populations. Increases in deaths from infectious diseases before and after the crisis played a substantial part in reversals in Estonia, Slovenia and Greece.

There is evidence that amenable mortality rose in Greece and, among females in Estonia and Slovenia. However, in most countries, trends in amenable mortality rates appeared to be unaffected by the crisis.