CardioExchange Archive

CardioExchange, an NEJM practice community for medical professionals dedicated to improving cardiac patient care, was active from 2009 to 2015. CardioExchange fostered discussion between clinicians from across the globe.

May 7th, 2010

Bad News from Europe; Even Worse News for China

Bad News from Europe; Even Worse News for China: Too many Europeans with coronary disease are not receiving evidence-based treatment, according to a report from the third EUROASPIRE survey. “The majority of coronary patients are not achieving blood pressure, lipid, and diabetes targets as defined in the Prevention Guidelines,” said investigator Dr Kornelia Kotseva, in a press release issued by the ESC in conjunction with EuroPRevent 2010, where the survey was presented. The survey included almost 9000 patients with coronary disease in 22 European countries and found:

56% had BP levels above target
51% had serum cholesterol levels above target
35% had diabetes

The prospects in China may be even worse, according to a new study published in Circulation: Cardiovascular Quality and Outcomes. Andrew Moran and colleagues used a computer model to forecast future rates of cardiovascular disease in China, and found that by 2030 the annual rates for heart disease and stroke could increase by 73%, leading to 7.7 million more CVD deaths between 2010 and 2030. Reductions in smoking and hypertension could help reverse the trend, write the authors.

Categories: General


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2 Responses to “Bad News from Europe; Even Worse News for China”

  1. Harlan M. Krumholz, MD, SM says:
    May 9, 2010 at 1:06 pm

    diabetes in this post

    The post states that 35% of 9000 patients had diabetes – but earlier in the post you talk about diabetes targets – was the point that patients were not hitting HbA1c targets – and what target were they talking about given that <7 for type II diabetes has been shown not to be helpful. As for BP targets I wonder how many of the 56% are already being treated and are close to target. Same with cholesterol. The link does not take you to the results.

    Finally I wonder if the absence of hitting targets is concentrated in eastern Europe – where there are marked gaps in care.

    News items like this seem to raise a lot of questions when you get below the surface.

  2. Larry Husten, PHD says:
    May 10, 2010 at 9:25 am

    Response to Harlan

    I wish I had better answers to your questions, Harlan. In this case the only source material for the story was the ESC press release. I make it a point to avoid writing stories based solely on a press release, but in this case I made an exception. I imagine there will be more clarity on these issues when the survey is published.