Epidemiology

Here, we'll look at the widespread pattern of Coronary Heart Disease.

Mortality

In the UK, Coronary Heart Disease is the most common cause of death. More than any single cancer. Approximately 1 in 5 men and 1 in 6 women die from CHD. Therefore, also it is the most common cause of premature death (i.e. under 75 years of age). In 2003, 28000 men and 10500 women under 75 years of age died of this disease in the UK. This is a comparatively high mortality rate!

Studies of mortality from CHD by social class in England and Wales shows that although rate is falling, the mortality is not decreasing as quickly in those who are in lower socio-economic groups or have manual jobs.

Internationally the mortality rate is overall still extremely high! Globally, it is also the leading cause of death, with over seven million people dying from the disease.
USA, Russia Federation, China and India had the highest total number of deaths from CHD in 2002, India having over 1.5 million. However, the death rates have had a general decline over the years due to improved diagnosis, treatment and prevention.

A signification distribution of mortality lies between males and females. Men are at higher risk of developing CHD compared with women, as statistics have shown. This is also evident in the prevalence rates. The reason for the difference is explained on the Risk Factors page.

Morbidity/Prevalance

The morbidity of CHD varies between developed and developing countries. CHD is decreasing in developed countries but increasing in developing countries. The increase could be due to increasing quality of life. On average, the global prevalence is 6.8% in men and 5.3% in women.

England coincides slightly with the global average of prevalence, 7.4% of men and 4.5% of women were found to be living with CHD in 2003. Prevalence increases with age with upto 25% of population found living with the disease at or above 75 years of age.
In 1999, a survey found that prevalence was almost twice as high in Bangladeshi, Indian and Pakistani men compared to the general population. In contrast, prevalence of CHD was much lower in Black Caribbean and Chinese men.

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