Cardiovascular diseases

Cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) kill approximately 10 000 people in the WHO European Region every day. They are the leading cause of death and disability in Europe, causing almost half of all deaths. Most of these deaths are from acute events such as heart attacks or strokes.

Assessing the risk of CVDs helps with quickly managing risk factors through counselling and medicines. CVDs must be detected and controlled as early as possible, with immediate emergency treatment and access to rehabilitation for sudden events.

Although deaths from cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) have been declining in Europe, they remain the cause of 42.5% of deaths – the highest proportion of all the WHO regions. The burden of CVDs is higher in men, especially in the eastern parts of the WHO European Region compared to the central and western parts.

High blood pressure (hypertension) caused almost a quarter of deaths in 2019, and is the leading risk factor driving CVDs in Europe. An estimated 1 in 3 adults have hypertension in the Region, but it is under-diagnosed, under-treated and under-controlled.

Most premature deaths from CVDs could be prevented with effective control of risk factors, namely tobacco use, unhealthy diet and physical inactivity.

Collaborating with partners and Member States, WHO has developed tools related to treatment, medicines, devices and wider health system measures to ensure access to effective, integrated prevention and control of cardiovascular diseases (CVDs).

Effective strategies simultaneously focus on population-level health promotion and disease prevention, target those at high risk, maximize population coverage with effective treatment and care, and tackle the wider determinants of health.

WHO/Europe provides technical assistance with the implementation of these interventions, and assists countries to demonstrate their impact, with a focus on high-burden countries.