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Secular trends in cardiovascular disease

Journal of Human Hypertension volume 16, pages 663–666 (2002)Cite this article

With changing times come changes in the standards of living, and with it, changes in the overall health of the population. We have certainly come a long way from the Middle Ages and the early days of the industrial revolution, when overcrowding and sudden unplanned urbanisation led to the spread of many diseases and a short life expectancy.1 Since the beginning of the 20th century, improvements in hygiene, urban planning, and overall better standards of living, brought about an improvement in health care, and life expectancy.2 These changes, however, are dependent upon a lot of factors and can be rather different for different parts of the same country,3 as well as for different countries of the world.4

In the western world, increased life expectancy has been attributed to better hygiene and nutrition, as well as easier and quicker access to medical services, and overall better standards of living. Due credit should be given to advances in therapeutic options.

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Acknowledgements

We acknowledge the support of the City Hospital Research and Development Programme for the Haemostasis Thrombosis and Vascular Biology Unit.

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  1. University Department of Medicine, City Hospital, Birmingham, B18 7QH, UK

    S Nadar

  2. University Department of Medicine, City Hospital, Birmingham, B18 7QH, UK

    GYH Lip

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  1. S Nadar
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Correspondence to GYH Lip.

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Nadar, S., Lip, G. Secular trends in cardiovascular disease. J Hum Hypertens 16, 663–666 (2002). https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.jhh.1001457

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