More Than 19 million People Around the World Succumb to Heart-Related Diseases Annually
The number of cardiovascular disease (CVD) mortality increased after the Covid-19 pandemic. According to a study, the number of CVD-related in the United States increased by over 6 per cent during the first year of the coronavirus pandemic. The number of CVD-related mortality reported in 2020 was 9,28,742, higher than 8,74,613 cases reported in 2019. This marked the biggest annual increase since 2015. Also, the number crossed the previous high of 9,10,000 which was recorded way back in 2003. American Heart Association’s flagship, peer-reviewed journal published the data.
As per the data reported in Association’s 2023 Statistical Update, the number of deaths because of heart-related reasons in 2020 was more in the first year of the coronavirus pandemic when compared with the data of 2023.
The report also suggested that the largest increase in deaths was registered among Hispanic, Asian and Black people.
“While the total number of deaths related to cardiovascular disease increased from 2019 to 2020, what is more important to note is that it was the first time when our age-adjusted mortality rate increased in many years. Also, the increase was 4.6 per cent which is very substantial,” said Connie W Tsao, assistant professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School.
“This is very indicative of what is going on with regard to the impact of Covid-19 on all age groups, especially before we managed to develop a vaccine,” Tsao said. Experts are also of the view that there was a substantial increase in the loss of lives since the start of the coronavirus pandemic because of various causes.
Michelle A. Albert, the American Heart Association’s volunteer president said that the Covid-19 pandemic resulted in overall cardiovascular deaths, something which was not surprising.
Coronavirus is associated with new clotting and inflammation. The surge was mainly because so many people with new or existing heart disease were reluctant to seek medical care, especially during the early days of the Covid-19.
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