FAQs - causes of cardiovascular disease in SA

The causes of death due to cardiovascular disease in SA are shown in Tables 1 and 2 and Figure 1 below from the Revised Burden of Disease estimates for the Comparative Risk Factor Assessment for South Africa, 2000 (pdf format 259 kb). In the tables, the number and percentage of deaths due to cardiovascular disease are ranked for persons, males and females. The figure shows the top five causes of death due to cardiovascular disease ranked by persons total. Ischaemic heart disease and stroke each account for 35% of cardiovascular deaths, hypertensive heart disease 15%, inflammatory heart disease 6% and pulmonary embolism for 2%. IHD is the most common cardiovascular disease in males and stroke and hypertensive heart disease in females. Tables 3 and 4 and Figure 2 show the estimates based on the Initial Burden of Disease estimates for South Africa, 2000 (pdf format, 457 kb).

Table 1: Number of deaths due to cardiovascular diseases by cause, South Africa 2000 - Revised

Persons			Males			Females
Rank	Cause of death	Deaths	Rank	Cause of death	Deaths	Rank	Cause of death	Deaths
1	Ischaemic heart disease	34402	1	Ischaemic heart disease	17736	1	Ischaemic heart disease	20353
2	Stroke	33866	2	Stroke	13513	2	Stroke	16666
3	Hypertensive heart disease	16648	3	Hypertensive heart disease	5214	3	Hypertensive heart disease	11433
4	Inflammatory heart disease	5419	4	Inflammatory heart disease	2636	4	Inflammatory heart disease	2783
5	Pulmonary embolism	2111	5	Pulmonary embolism	894	5	Pulmonary embolism	1217
6	Rheumatic heart disease	1667	6	Non-rheumatic valvular disease	564	6	Rheumatic heart disease	1103
7	Non-rheumatic valvular disease	1667	7	Rheumatic heart disease	712	7	Non-rheumatic valvular disease	955
8	Peripheral vascular disorders	983	8	Aortic aneurism	482	8	Peripheral vascular disorders	501
9	Aortic aneurism	948	9	Peripheral vascular disorders	558	9	Aortic aneurism	390
10	Other cardiovascular	538	10	Other cardiovascular	261	10	Other cardiovascular	277
	All cardiovascular			All cardiovascular			All cardiovascular	55680

Table 2: Percentage of Cardiovascular diseases by cause, South Africa, 2000 - Revised

Persons			Males			Females
Rank	Cause of death	%	Rank	Cause of death	%	Rank	Cause of death	%
1	Ischaemic heart disease	35.0	1	Ischaemic heart disease	41.6	1	Ischaemic heart disease	36.5
2	Stroke	34.5	2	Stroke	31.7	2	Stroke	29.9
3	Hypertensive heart disease	16.9	3	Hypertensive heart disease	12.2	3	Hypertensive heart disease	20.5
4	Inflammatory heart disease	5.5	4	Inflammatory heart disease	6.1	4	Inflammatory heart disease	4.9
5	Pulmonary embolism	2.1	5	Pulmonary embolism	2.1	5	Pulmonary embolism	2.1
6	Rheumatic heart disease	1.7	6	Non-rheumatic valvular disease	1.3	6	Rheumatic heart disease	1.9
7	Non-rheumatic valvular disease	1.7	7	Rheumatic heart disease	1.6	7	Non-rheumatic valvular disease	1.7
8	Peripheral vascular disorders	1.0	8	Aortic aneurism	1.1	8	Peripheral vascular disorders	0.9
9	Aortic aneurism	1.0	9	Peripheral vascular disorders	1.3	9	Aortic aneurism	0.7
10	Other cardiovascular	0.5	10	Other cardiovascular	0.6	10	Other cardiovascular	0.4
	All cardiovascular	100.0		All cardiovascular	100.0		All cardiovascular	100.0

Figure 1: Top five causes of cardiovascular deaths by sex, South Africa, 2000 - Revised

Table 3: Number of deaths due to cardiovascular diseases by cause, South Africa 2000 (Initial Burden of Disease Study)

Table 4: Percentage of Cardiovascular diseases by cause, South Africa, 2000 (Initial Burden of Disease Study)

Figure 2: Top five causes of cardiovascular deaths by sex, South Africa, 2000 (Initial Burden of Disease Study)

Authors: Dr Rosana Norman, Prof Debbie Bradshaw, Michelle Schneider, Desiree Pieterse and Dr Pam Groenewald


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