Cardiovascular Diseases Kill 10,000 People in the WHO European Region Every Day, with Men Dying More Frequently than Women

WHO/Europe report warns of lethal levels of salt consumption and uncontrolled high blood pressure

Most people in the WHO European Region consume far too much salt, and more than one in three adults aged 30-79 has hypertension, the medical term for high blood pressure. This matters because high salt intake raises blood pressure, which is a leading risk factor for cardiovascular diseases such as heart attacks and strokes. A new WHO/Europe report "Action on salt and hypertension" calls for an integrated approach to reduce salt intake and improve detection and control of hypertension to protect people's health.

Dying early from cardiovascular diseases: alarming statistics

Cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) are the predominant cause of disability and premature death in the European Region, causing over 42.5% of all deaths annually. That means 10 000 deaths every day.

According to the WHO/Europe report, men in the Region are almost 2.5 times more likely to die from CVDs than women. There is also a geographic divide - the probability of dying young (30-69 years) from a CVD is nearly five times as high in eastern Europe and central Asia compared to western Europe.

"CVDs and hypertension are largely preventable - and controllable," said Dr Hans Henri P. Kluge, WHO Regional Director for Europe. "Four million, a staggering figure, is the number of deaths caused by cardiovascular diseases every single year - primarily in men, particularly in the eastern part of our WHO region. These are the facts, but this is something we can change. We know what works, but time and time again, we fall short of implementing evidence-based approaches, resulting in unacceptably high levels of avoidable deaths....