Cardiovascular hospitalizations and deaths in adults, children and pregnant women

Abstract

Cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) and strokes are the leading cause of death worldwide. To estimate the number and incidence of cardiovascular hospitalizations and deaths in adults and children and strokes and acute coronary syndromes (ACS) among pregnant women in France. Using National Health Data, we identified all hospitalizations for CVD in 2022 and cardiovascular deaths in 2021. We also identified all women in the general health insurance scheme who gave birth in France during 2010-2018 after 22 weeks' gestation and all strokes and ACS that occurred during pregnancy and postpartum. In adults in 2022, there were 1,229,003 hospitalizations for CVD among 925,936 adults (59.2% men) for a standardized rate of 1614 per 100,000. This was twice as high in men versus women and increased with age and social deprivation. In 2021, 138,137 adults died of CVD (47.4% men), i.e. 216 per 100,000 adults. Among children born during the first 6 months of 2022, a congenital heart defect (CHD) was identified in 3876 (1068 cases per 100,000 live births). In 2021, 193 children died of a CHD (1.4 per 100,000) and 100 of another CVD (0.7 per 100,000). In the women accounting for the 6.3 million deliveries during 2010-2018, 1261 strokes and 225 ACS were identified during pregnancy and the postpartum period, i.e. respective incidence rates of 24.0 and 4.3 per 100,000 person-years. The burden of CVD calls for large-scale action to improve the prevention, screening and management of CVD in these different populations.

Keywords: Cardiovascular deaths; Cardiovascular diseases; Congenital heart defects; Epidemiology; Pregnancy.