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Aims The 2019 report from the European Society of Cardiology (ESC) Atlas provides a contemporary analysis of cardiovascular disease (CVD) statistics across 56 member countries, with particular emphasis on international inequalities in disease burden and healthcare delivery together with estimates of progress towards meeting 2025 World Health Organization (WHO) non-communicable disease targets. Methods and results In this report, contemporary CVD statistics are presented for member countries of the ESC. The statistics are drawn from the ESC Atlas which is a repository of CVD data from a variety of sources including the WHO, the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation, and the World Bank. The Atlas also includes novel ESC sponsored data on human and capital infrastructure and cardiovascular healthcare delivery obtained by annual survey of the national societies of ESC member countries. Across ESC member countries, the prevalence of obesity (body mass index ≥30 kg/m2) and diabetes has increased two- to three-fold during the last 30 years making the WHO 2025 target to halt rises in these risk factors unlikely to be achieved. More encouraging have been variable declines in hypertension, smoking, and alcohol consumption but on current trends only the reduction in smoking from 28% to 21% during the last 20 years appears sufficient for the WHO target to be achieved. The median age-standardized prevalence of major risk factors was higher in middle-income compared with high-income ESC member countries for hypertension {23.8% [interquartile range (IQR) 22.5–23.1%] vs. 15.7% (IQR 14.5–21.1%)}, diabetes [7.7% (IQR 7.1–10.1%) vs. 5.6% (IQR 4.8–7.0%)], and among males smoking [43.8% (IQR 37.4–48.0%) vs. 26.0% (IQR 20.9–31.7%)] although among females smoking was less common in middle-income countries [8.7% (IQR 3.0–10.8) vs. 16.7% (IQR 13.9–19.7%)]. There were associated inequalities in disease burden with disability-adjusted life years per 100 000 people due to CVD over three times as high in middle-income [7160 (IQR 5655–8115)] compared with high-income [2235 (IQR 1896–3602)] countries. Cardiovascular disease mortality was also higher in middle-income countries where it accounted for a greater proportion of potential years of life lost compared with high-income countries in both females (43% vs. 28%) and males (39% vs. 28%). Despite the inequalities in disease burden across ESC member countries, survey data from the National Cardiac Societies of the ESC showed that middle-income member countries remain severely under-resourced compared with high-income countries in terms of cardiological person-power and technological infrastructure. Under-resourcing in middle-income countries is associated with a severe procedural deficit compared with high-income countries in terms of coronary intervention, device implantation and cardiac surgical procedures. Conclusion A seemingly inexorable rise in the prevalence of obesity and diabetes currently provides the greatest challenge to achieving further reductions in CVD burden across ESC member countries. Additional challenges are provided by inequalities in disease burden that now require intensification of policy initiatives in order to reduce population risk and prioritize cardiovascular healthcare delivery, particularly in the middle-income countries of the ESC where need is greatest.

Background— Growth-differentiation factor-15 (GDF-15) is a member of the transforming growth factor-β cytokine superfamily that is induced in the heart after ischemia-and-reperfusion injury. Circulating levels of GDF-15 may provide prognostic information in patients with non–ST-elevation acute coronary syndrome. Methods and Results— Blood samples were obtained on admission from 2081 patients with acute chest pain and either ST-segment depression or troponin elevation who were included in the Global Utilization of Strategies to Open Occluded Arteries (GUSTO)-IV Non–ST-Elevation Acute Coronary Syndrome trial and from a matching cohort of 429 apparently healthy individuals. GDF-15 levels were determined by immunoradiometric assay. Approximately two thirds of patients presented with GDF-15 levels above the upper limit of normal in healthy controls (1200 ng/L); one third presented with levels >1800 ng/L. Increasing tertiles of GDF-15 were associated with an enhanced risk of death at 1 year (1.5%, 5.0%, and 14.1%; P <0.001). By multiple Cox regression analysis, only the levels of GDF-15 and N-terminal pro–B-type natriuretic peptide, together with age and a history of previous myocardial infarction, contributed independently to 1-year mortality risk. Receiver operating characteristic curve analyses further illustrated that GDF-15 is a strong marker of 1-year mortality risk (area under the curve, 0.757; best cutoff, 1808 ng/L). At this cutoff value, GDF-15 added significant prognostic information in patient subgroups defined by age; gender; time from symptom onset to admission; cardiovascular risk factors; previous cardiovascular disease; and the risk markers ST-segment depression, troponin T, N-terminal pro–B-type natriuretic peptide, C-reactive protein, and creatinine clearance. Conclusions— GDF-15 is a new biomarker of the risk for death in patients with non–ST-elevation acute coronary syndrome that provides prognostic information beyond that provided by established clinical and biochemical markers.