Research published in December 2023 has shown that cardiovascular disease remains the leading cause of death worldwide.
The research was a collaboration between the Journal of the American College of Cardiology, the US Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation, and the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute in the USA. Together they looked at 18 cardiovascular conditions and 15 cardiovascular risk factors across 204 countries and territories to identify trends in death and survival rates from these conditions, and to look at the influence of the identified risk factors.
The study found that ischaemic heart disease (also known as coronary artery disease) was the leading cause of death across the globe, and that high blood pressure, high cholesterol, poor diet and air pollution were the leading contributors to cardiovascular disease.
The report makes for interesting reading and clearly shows the global distribution of cardiovascular disease with easily understandable maps and graphs. Click here to access the research.