Cardiovascular diseases are a group of diseases affecting the heart and / or blood vessels.
In fact, the term "cardio" refers to the heart and the term "vascular" to the arterial and venous vessels present in the body.
Generally related to atherosclerosis - that is to the phenomena of narrowing, obstruction or dilation (aneurysm) of blood vessels - cardiovascular diseases represent the main cause of death in the most industrialized countries of the world.
Coronary heart diseases (for example myocardial infarction and ischemia), cerebravascular diseases (stroke), peripheral arteriopathies, rheumatic diseases with myocardial involvement, valvulopathies, congenital heart defects, deep vein thrombosis fall into the category of cardiovascular diseases. etc.
But let's get to the numbers ...
- Only in 2012, cardiovascular diseases caused the death of no less than 17.5 million people worldwide, about 31% of global deaths (source WHO, World Health Organization).
- Of these 17.5 million, about 7.4 are connected to coronary heart disease and about 6.7 million to episodes of stroke.
- In Italy, according to reliable estimates, cardiovascular diseases are responsible for 44% of all deaths and, in the ranking of the main causes of death, excel with myocardial ischemia (28% of deaths). In the special classification of the main causes of death, myocardial ischemia occupies the first position (with 28% of deaths) while cerebravascular pathologies are placed in third position (with 13% of deaths). The latter are preceded by tumors.
- In the United States, one in four deaths is due to heart disease or a stroke; moreover, according to a rather curious study, each aforementioned death would occur at a distance of 39 seconds from each other.
