Recent Trends in Cardiovascular Mortality in Rio de Janeiro State Health Regions and Capital

Cardiovascular disease (CVD) mortality, after several decades of decrease, has shown a tendency towards the stabilization in some countries, including Brazil and Rio de Janeiro state. This new tendency was not further analyzed by gender, age group and region of the Rio de Janeiro state.

To analyze the trends of premature and late mortality from CVD, ischemic heart disease (IHD) and cerebrovascular disease (CBVD) by gender in the city of Rio de Janeiro (capital) and the health regions of Rio de Janeiro state (from 1996 to 2016.

Data on deaths and the population were obtained from DATASUS/MS. The rates were compensated by ill-defined codes, corrected by Ill-Defined Cardiovascular codes and gender and age-adjusted by the direct method (reference population - population of the state of Rio de Janeiro - 2000 census). The Joinpoint Trend Analysis Software was employed.

IHD mortality stabilized or even increased for at least 50% of the analyzed areas (EAPC≥0). No change was observed. in the "North" and "Northwest" regions For CBVD, just one region showed stability regarding mortality (EAPC close to 0). For the other regions, the rate continued to decrease (APC<0) until 2016.

These results observed in Rio de Janeiro are possibly appropriate to various Brazilian regions and demonstrate that a serious public health response is needed to address lifestyle behaviors. Primary care physicians should also be familiar with the unfavorable tendency in coronary heart disease among younger adults in recent years and actively screen for risk factors for cardiovascular disease, paying special attention to women.