Countrywide cardiovascular disease prevention and control in 49 countries with different socio-economic status

Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is the major noncommunicable disease (NCD) accounting for 17.9 million deaths. If current trends continue, the annual number of deaths from CVD will rise to 22.2 million by 2030. The United Nations General Assembly adopted a sustainable development goal (SDG) by 2030 to reduce NCD mortality by one-third. The purpose of this study was to analyze the CVD mortality trends in different countries implementing World Health Organization (WHO) NCD Action Plan and emphasize effective ways to achieve SDG.

WHO statistics, based on the Member-States unified mortality and causes-of-death reports were used for analyzing trends and different interventions.

Reduction of CVD mortality from 2000 to 2016 in 49 countries was achieved for stroke at 43% and ischemic heart disease at 30%. Smoking prevalence and raised blood pressure (RBP) decreased in 84% and 55% of the countries. Eighty-nine percent of high-income countries (HIC) demonstrated a decline in tobacco smoking against 67% in middle-income countries (MIC). Sixty-nine percent of HIC demonstrated a decline in RBP against 15% in MIC. CVD management, tobacco, and unhealthy diet reduction measures are significantly better in HIC. The air pollution level was higher in MIC.

Building partnerships between countries could enhance their efforts for CVD prevention and successful achievement of SDG.