Epidemiología de las enfermedades cardiovasculares en España

Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is the leading cause of death and hospitalization in Spain, being associated with around 125 000 deaths and 5 million hospital admissions each year. A large number of asymptomatic individuals are at a high risk of CVD because they have two or more risk factors. In more than 60% of these individuals, risk factors are not dealt with properly. Moreover, the situation is improving only slowly. More than a third of patients who have had an acute myocardial infarction die before reaching hospital without receiving appropriate treatment. For these patients, prevention is too late. As a result, CVD incidence and mortality in Spain have not improved substantially in the past decade. Furthermore, if the associated increase in the utilization of health service resources continues, funding by Spanish society could become problematic in the near future. The best way of improving this situation is to promote primary prevention of CVD, thereby changing the balance between preventative programs and treatment of disease sufferers, which is where the majority of resources is concentrated at present.