Global Burden of Cardiovascular Health

A world without cardiovascular disease (CVD) is possible, yet millions of lives are lost prematurely to heart disease each year, according to the new Global Burden of Disease (GBD) special report published this week in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.

The report provides an update of health estimates for the global, regional and national burden and trends of CVD from 1990-2022 by analyzing the impact of cardiovascular conditions and risk factors across 21 global regions.

“Cardiovascular diseases are a persistent challenge that lead to an enormous number of premature and preventable deaths,” said Dr. Gregory Roth, associate professor (Cardiology) and senior author of the paper. “There are many inexpensive, effective treatments. We know what risk factors we need to identify and treat. There are simple healthy choices that people can make to improve their health. This atlas provides detailed information on where countries stand in their efforts to prevent and treat cardiovascular diseases.”