Arq. Bras. Cardiol. 2021; 117(2): 341-342

Successes and Challenges in the Management of Cardiovascular Disease in Brazil: Living Longer and Better

Bruno Fernandes Galdino , David Costa Peixoto, Ana Carolina Alves , Bruno Ramos Nascimento , Luisa Campos Caldeira Brant

DOI: 10.36660/abc.20210589

This Short Editorial is referred by the Research article "Cardiovascular and Cancer Death Rates in the Brazilian Population Aged 35 to 74 Years, 1996-2017".

Cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) and cancer are the main causes of death in Brazil and worldwide. Considering this epidemiological relevance, the article “Mortality Rates from Cardiovascular Diseases and Cancer in the Brazilian Population aged 35 to 74 Years, 1996-2017”, through the analysis of mortality data from the DATASUS Vital Statistics (Mortality Information System – SIM), depicts the mortality profile of these groups of diseases, discusses their evolution between 1996 and 2017, and estimates the future contribution of these causes of death, if the trends are maintained. The main findings include the greater current contribution of CVDs to mortality in Brazil, but with a gradual reduction of their age-standardized rates. This trend did not occur for cancer mortality rates – which remain stable – so that, in a few years, cancer will become the main cause of death in the country.

CVDs and cancer, despite having different etiopathogeneses, share risk factors (RF), such as smoking, obesity, diabetes, excessive alcohol consumption and low socioeconomic status. Therefore, maintaining an optimal cardiovascular health is inversely proportional to the incidence of cancer. Thus, it is important to understand the population exposure trends to these common RFs over the last decades, when lifestyle changes resulting from urbanization and population aging contributed to the high incidence and mortality of both diseases. With this information in mind, Mansur and Favarato analyzed mortality data from all causes for men and women, CVD, ischemic heart disease (IHD), cerebrovascular disease (CbVD) and cancer over this 21-year period.

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