Heart attacks and strokes account for almost 20 per cent of deaths in Cyprus

In 2013, a total of 1,003 people died from heart attacks and strokes in Cyprus, according to a Eurostat report published on Wednesday.

Some 637 died from heart attacks, 12.2 per cent of all deaths, a figure which is roughly the same as in 2004. Another 366 deaths were caused by strokes. This represents a share of total deaths of 7 per cent, down from 2004 when it was 7.8 per cent. Both percentages place Cyprus among the countries with slightly better records than the European Union average.

In the EU in 2013, heart attacks (around 644,000 deaths) and strokes (almost 433,000 deaths) accounted for slightly more than one in five deaths. Since 2000 however, the share of both fatal heart attacks and fatal strokes has continuously decreased in the EU from being responsible for 16.6 per cent and 11.5 per cent respectively of all deaths in 2000 to 12.9 per cent and 8.7 per cent in 2013 despite an increasingly ageing population.

Lithuania tops the list with more than a third of all deaths due to heart attacks in 2013.

By contrast, heart attacks accounted for a mere six per cent of all causes of death in France. Regarding deaths from strokes, the highest proportions were registered in 2013 in Bulgaria (19.7 per cent). At the opposite end of the scale is France with a share of 5.7 per cent.

An analysis by age groups clearly shows that the risk of dying from a heart attack or a stroke increases with age, with heart attacks and strokes being responsible for less than 10 per cent of all deaths among people aged below 40 in the EU, between 10 and 20 per cent for those aged 40 to 69 and for over 20 per cent for the older age groups.

 

 

The Cyprus Mail is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Cyprus. It was established in 1945 and today, with its popular and widely-read website, the Cyprus Mail is among the most trusted news sites in Cyprus. The newspaper is not affiliated with any political parties and has always striven to maintain its independence. Over the past 70-plus years, the Cyprus Mail, with a small dedicated team, has covered momentous events in Cyprus’ modern history, chronicling the last gasps of British colonial rule, Cyprus’ truncated independence, the coup and Turkish invasion, and the decades of negotiations to stitch the divided island back together, plus a myriad of scandals, murders, and human interests stories that capture the island and its -people. Observers describe it as politically conservative.