The Alarming Prevalence of Cardiovascular and Neurological Diseases

In 2022, cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases resulted in 1.2 million hospitalizations and 140,000 deaths among adults, accounting for more than one in five deaths.

Among the conditions with the greatest impact on adults in 2022:

• Ischemic heart disease, with over 240,000 hospitalizations and 31,000 deaths.

• Heart failure, with more than 180,000 hospitalized patients and 25,000 deaths.

• Strokes, with more than 120,000 hospitalized patients and more than 30,000 deaths. They are also the leading cause of cardio-neuro-vascular mortality among women, with 18,000 deaths per year.

Despite the availability of effective treatments, care remains inadequate, with rates still too low for patients receiving cardiac rehabilitation or long-term secondary prevention treatments.

Other cardiovascular diseases, such as venous thromboembolism or peripheral arterial disease, also represent a heavy burden, part of which is preventable through preventive measures.

All these cardiovascular health indicators will soon be available as open data.

Significant social and regional disparities

The results presented reveal significant disparities based on socioeconomic status and geographic location:

• The incidence of hospitalizations for cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases is 30% higher in disadvantaged communities, and the difference reaches 60% for heart failure and peripheral artery disease (PAD).

• Only 11% of the population has ideal cardiovascular health, with significant disparities linked to educational attainment: 4% of those without a high school diploma versus 21% of those with a higher level of education1

• Regional inequalities are also observed, particularly in terms of care. These inequalities are linked to a heterogeneous distribution of risk factors across the country but also, in part, to the number of beds in specialized facilities such as neurovascular units or cardiac rehabilitation centers.

Furthermore, the gap between men and women in terms of cardiovascular risk factors is narrowing, but this is due to a worsening situation among women, who are increasingly adopting behaviors that are detrimental to their health.

Behavioral and metabolic risk factors: a key challenge for prevention

Cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases have multifactorial causes, including behavioral risk factors. In fact, nearly a quarter of adults still smoke daily², exhibit high levels of sedentary behavior and physical inactivity³, and three in ten men and more than one in ten women consume alcohol at levels exceeding the low-risk ^{guidelines⁴}. Nearly half of women and one-third of men do not meet the recommended levels of physical activity. Regarding dietary recommendations, more than 70% of adults do not consume enough fruits and vegetables, and more than 80% have a diet that is too high in salt.

Apart from behavioral risk factors, metabolic risk factors play a major role in the onset of cardiovascular disease. Nearly 31% of adults suffer from high blood pressure, 23% from high LDL cholesterol, 17% from obesity, and 7% from diabetes, with no visible decrease in these prevalence rates in recent years—and in some cases, they have even increased. The inadequate diagnosis and management of these metabolic risk factors is alarming: 45% of people with high blood pressure and 23% of those with type 2 diabetes are unaware of their condition, which delays preventive interventions and appropriate care.