This indicator measures the share of deaths of women and men caused by cardiovascular diseases (CVD) (coronary heart disease (CHD), stroke, and other CVD), which are some of the main causes of death in the European Union. Indeed, CVD is the main cause of death for women.
The incidence of coronary heart disease in women increases dramatically in middle age, which has led to the speculation that menopause marks the end of a protective effect of ovarian hormones on cardiovascular disease. CHD results in many premature deaths and since clinical care in CVDs is costly and prolonged, it is also a major economic burden in Europe.
Factors that have been identified as contributors to coronary heart disease for women include cholesterol, smoking, high blood pressure, obesity, physical inactivity, hormonal changes and diabetes mellitus. To these classical risk factors we can add others if we incorporate the gender perspective to analyse the risk factors, such as socio-economic condition, links with health services, subjective construction of the illness, insertion to the labour market or interconnection among the different areas of work, personal interests and family life.
Available flags:
| b | break in time series | c | confidential |
| d | definition differs, see metadata | e | estimated |
| f | forecast | i | see metadata |
| m | imputed | n | not significant |
| p | provisional | r | revised |
| s | Eurostat estimate | u | low reliability |
| x | dropped due to insufficient sample size | y | unreliable due to small sample size |
| z | not applicable |