title: Trends in cardiovascular diseases and cancer mortality in 45 countries from five continents (1980-2010).
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Cardiovascular diseases (CVD) and cancer are worldwide main causes of death with mortality trends varying across countries with different levels of economic development.
  
  
  METHODS
  We analysed trends in CVD and cancer mortality for 37 European countries, five high-income non-European countries and four leading emerging economies (BRICS) using data from the World Health Organization database for the period 1980-2010.
  
  
  RESULTS
  In high-income countries, CVD mortality trends are characterized by steep declines over the last decades, while a downward trend in cancer mortality started more recently and was less pronounced. This resulted in the gradual convergence of the CVD and cancer mortality rates, and the latter are already higher in some countries. The absolute number of CVD deaths decreased in most settings, while cancer deaths increased in nearly all countries. Among the BRICS, China and South Africa share a similar pattern of no meaningful variation in both CVD and cancer age-standardized mortality rates and an increase in the overall number of deaths by these causes. Brazil presents trends similar to those of high-income countries, except for the still increasing number of CVD deaths.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The substantial decreases in CVD mortality over the last decades have overcome the impact of the growth and ageing of populations in the overall number of deaths, while stabilization in the number of cancer deaths was observed only in some of the high-income countries.
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Epidemiology, Predictive Medicine and Public Health, University of Porto Medical School, Porto, Portugal Institute of Public Health of the University of Porto (ISPUP), Porto, Portugal.
authors.forename: Fábio
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Araújo
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Epidemiology, Predictive Medicine and Public Health, University of Porto Medical School, Porto, Portugal Institute of Public Health of the University of Porto (ISPUP), Porto, Portugal.
authors.forename: Cláudia
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Gouvinhas
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Epidemiology, Predictive Medicine and Public Health, University of Porto Medical School, Porto, Portugal Institute of Public Health of the University of Porto (ISPUP), Porto, Portugal.
authors.forename: Filipa
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Fontes
authors.affiliation: Institute of Public Health of the University of Porto (ISPUP), Porto, Portugal Department of Clinical Sciences and Community Health, Università degli Studi di Milano, Milan, Italy.
authors.forename: Carlo
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: La Vecchia
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Epidemiology, Predictive Medicine and Public Health, University of Porto Medical School, Porto, Portugal Institute of Public Health of the University of Porto (ISPUP), Porto, Portugal.
authors.forename: Ana
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Azevedo
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Epidemiology, Predictive Medicine and Public Health, University of Porto Medical School, Porto, Portugal Institute of Public Health of the University of Porto (ISPUP), Porto, Portugal nlunet@med.up.pt.
authors.forename: Nuno
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Lunet
mesh_terms: D002318:Cardiovascular Diseases / Q000401:mortality*; D002423:Cause of Death; D005260:Female; D014943:Global Health; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009026:Mortality / Q000639:trends*; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000401:mortality*
keywords: Cardiovascular diseases; mortality; neoplasms; trends