The latest Global Burden of Disease study revealed that cardiovascular disease is a bigger part of the global health battle than previously thought, underscoring the impact of CVD on population-level health despite medical advances.
- Cardiovascular disease remains the leading cause of death and disability worldwide, mostly through ischemic heart disease (8.9M deaths) and stroke (6.8M deaths).
- Nearly 80% of cardiovascular disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) stem from modifiable risk factors, yet risk factor control hasn’t improved.
Presented at the UN General Assembly 2025, the Global Burden of Disease study looked at cardiovascular disease patterns across regions and sociodemographic indices from 1990-2023, revealing some very concerning trends…
- High blood pressure emerged as the leading global risk factor, followed by poor diet, high LDL cholesterol, and air pollution.
- Countries with low-to-middle development faced the largest CVD burden, with the South Pacific showing the highest DALY rates (10,344 per 100,000).
- Men experienced 42.9% increases in cardiovascular DALYs since 1990 compared to 28.6% increases in women, indicating gender-specific risk factors.
- Metabolic risk factors showed alarming growth, with DALYs from high BMI increasing 114% and high fasting glucose climbing 76% over the study period.
Despite the effective treatments available, researchers emphasized that “cardiovascular disease continues to increase for almost all of the world,” with obesity and diabetes now actively driving disease expansion.
- Regional risk factor patterns varied, with hypertension dominating in sub-Saharan Africa while tobacco and alcohol use drove burden in Eastern and Central Europe.
- Lead exposure from industrial sources, ceramics, electronics, and food also represents an “underappreciated risk factor” contributing significantly to ASCVD.
Now that cardiovascular disease is pretty treatable, one could argue that the persistent global burden highlights massive healthcare access and delivery failures rather than therapeutic limitations.
- Researchers noted that effective treatment requires proper healthcare access and functioning EMS systems, disproportionately affecting lower-resource settings.
The Takeaway
Although cardiovascular disease treatments have never been more effective, the global burden continues rising due to a lack of risk factor control and persistent healthcare access barriers. As several other CVD reports have already shown this year, protecting our hearts is a population-level issue, not an individual one.
