Arq. Bras. Cardiol. 2021; 117(5): 952-953
Socioeconomic Indicators and Mortality from Heart Failure: Inseparable Parameters?
Helder Jorge de Andrade Gomes
, Carlos Eduardo Lucena Montenegro
This Short Editorial is referred by the Research article "Mortality Due to Heart Failure and Socioeconomic Development in Brazil between 1980 and 2018".
Cardiovascular diseases (CVD) are still the leading cause of death, accounting for approximately one third of deaths worldwide. In June 2021, the World Health Organization (WHO) underscored its concern about the impact caused by CVD in low- and middle-income countries, where more than three quarters of their deaths occur. Heart failure (HF) is a common final route of heart diseases. It is an out-of-control global pandemic, with increasing prevalence, as a consequence of factors such as population aging, a greater presence of cardiovascular risk factors such as obesity, sedentary lifestyle or diabetes mellitus, despite therapeutic advances that reduce mortality.
The connection between worse socioeconomic conditions and higher mortality from HF seems to have been well established in recent years in different populations– and is partially justified by the worse access to diagnostic methods and pharmacological treatment. However, this relationship is more confusing in low- and middle-income countries, where clinical, demographic, and socioeconomic variables explain little about the variability between one-year HF mortality rates across Africa, India, Southeast Asia, Middle East, South America and China, as observed in the INTER-CHF prospective cohort study.
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