Trends in Cardiovascular Diseases Mortality in the Philippines

Abstract

Cardiovascular disease mortality in the Philippines was studied from the existing vital statistics for 1963-76. Death rates from rheumatic fever and rheumatic heart disease remained unchanged, those for cerebrovascular diseases decreased, whereas mortality rates of ischaemic heart disease (IHD) and hypertensive disease (HPN) increased enormously both in men and women. This increase in IHD and HPN mortality was seen in all age groups. The age-standardized IHD mortality rate in men rose from 33.3 in 1964 to 78.0 in 1976, and that of women from 15.4 to 34.5. The age-standardized HPN mortality rate in men rose from 21.0 in 1964 to 45.6 in 1976, and that of women from 15.6 to 25.5. The male to female ratios in the age-standardized death rates for IHD, HPN and also for all causes increased during this 12-year period. Age-standardized all causes mortality increased clearly in the male population but decreased in the female population of the Philippines. This excess mortality in males is mostly due to the increased cardiovascular disease death rate. This is a clear example of how chronic non-communicable diseases are becoming major health problems in countries where they previously have not been prevalent. Immediate preventive measures are needed in order to control cardiovascular diseases in these countries where disease rates are rapidly increasing.

National data on stroke outcomes in Thailand

“…The prevalence of CI increased with age and the highest [20], respectively. The length of stay in this analysis is comparable with previous international studies [4,18,20]. The length of stay depends on stroke subtype, with ICH having the longest hospital stay.…”

“…Similar to results from the USA and Canada [4,18] and Asian results from India, China, Singapore, and Indonesia [9,16,17], CI was the most common stroke subtype. In Thailand, the mean age of CI patients was 66 years and males were slightly predominant (54%).…”

“…A previous study from Germany observed a mortality rate ranging from 3% to 35% depending on the population studied [20]. The mortality rate in ICH is 27% (if ''not improved'' patients were included, it would increase to 35%) similar to the USA (30.7% in 1997-1998 and 28.2% in 2005-2006) [4]. The rate of thrombolytic prescription use was much lower than in other countries.…”

“…In the USA it was 9.8% in 1997-1998 and 8.8% in 2005-2006 [4]. Thailand has a slightly lower overall in-hospital stroke mortality rate of 6%.…”

“…The crude death rate was between 50-160 per 100,000 of population in 2002 [3]. Previous reports showed that the mortality rate from stroke was declining over time in the Philippines and Singapore [4,5]. The explanation for this may be lower rates of hypertension, smoking, dyslipidemia, and obesity [5,6].…”