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Health care delivery, economics and global health care
Original research article
Analysis of mortality trends due to cardiovascular diseases in Panama, 2001–2014
  1. María Carrión Donderis1,
  2. Ilais Moreno Velásquez1,
  3. Franz Castro1,
  4. Julio Zúñiga1,
  5. Beatriz Gómez1 and
  6. Jorge Motta1,2
  1. 1Gorgas Memorial Institute for Health Studies, Panama City, Panama
  2. 2National Secretariat for Science and Technology, Panama City, Panama
  1. Correspondence to Dr María Carrión Donderis; mteresacarriond{at}gmail.com

Abstract

Objective Cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) are still the leading cause of death worldwide despite the recent decline in mortality rates attributable to CVD in Western Europe and the Americas. The aim of this study is to investigate mortality trends due to ischaemic heart disease (IHD) and stroke in Panama from 2001 to 2014, as well as the mortality differences by sex and age groups.

Methods Data were obtained from the National Mortality Register. The International Classification of Diseases 10th revision codes (ICD-10) I20–I25 and I60–I69 were used for IHD and stroke, respectively. Age-adjusted mortality rates were calculated using the world population of the WHO as standard. Trends were analysed using Joinpoint Regression Program and annual percentage changes (APC) were estimated.

Results From 2010, the IHD mortality trend began to decline in the whole population of Panama (APC −4.7%, p<0.05). From 2001 to 2014, a decline in the trend for IHD mortality was observed (APC −1.7%, p<0.05) in women, but not in men. Stroke mortality showed a significant annual decline during the study period (APC −3.8%, p<0.05) and it was more pronounced in women (APC −4.5%, p<0.05) than in men (APC −3.3%, p<0.05).

Conclusions In Panama, the mortality rates from IHD and stroke have declined in recent years. Better access to healthcare, improved treatment of acute IHD and stroke, low tobacco consumption and better control of hypertension probably account for a significant part of this mortality reduction.

  • MYOCARDIAL ISCHAEMIA AND INFARCTION (IHD)

This is an Open Access article distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/

https://doi.org/10.1136/openhrt-2016-000510

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    Footnotes

    • Contributors MCD curated, analysed and interpreted the data, did the research and wrote the draft of the work. IMV interpreted the data, did the research and critically revised the draft for important intellectual content. FC and JZ interpreted the data, did the research and wrote the draft of the work. BG and JM designed and supervised the work and critically revised the draft for important intellectual content. Final approval of the version to be published was given by MCD, IMV, FC, JZ, BG and JM. All the authors agree to be accountable for all aspects of the work in ensuring that questions related to the accuracy or integrity of any part of the work are appropriately investigated and resolved.

    • Funding This research received no specific grant from any funding agency in the public, commercial or not-for-profit sectors.

    • Competing interests None declared.

    • Provenance and peer review Not commissioned; externally peer reviewed.

    • Data sharing statement No additional data are available.