Number of deaths from heart disease likely to rise worldwide

Worldwide, early deaths from heart disease are expected to increase by 32 percent by 2025, according to an analysis.

The Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation’s Global Burden of Disease project did the first ever forecasting analysis of heart disease and found that 7.8 million people are expected to die of heart disease in 2025 if global trends continue.

The analysis, published Sept. 29 in the journal Circulation, looked at how well countries around the world could combat heart disease by dealing with risk factors like high blood pressure, tobacco use, obesity and diabetes. While different countries have different issues with those risk factors, globally the number of heart disease related deaths would drop the most if countries addressed high blood pressure first.

For the U.S., reducing obesity would have the biggest impact on the number, according to the study.

If current trends continue, countries like China, India, Mexico and Russia will all see steady increases in heart disease related deaths. While the U.S. is likely to see its number drop, it won’t be the 25 percent decrease necessary to reach the goal of a United Nations global action plan on heart disease.

Deaths from heart disease are caused by heart attack, stroke and other circulatory diseases.