It is a text which was unanimously accepted. On Monday, July 20, deputies definitively adopted a bill aimed at better preventing cardiovascular diseases and their associated complications – heart attacks, stroke, etc. In France, these pathologies are among the main causes of mortality, and represent a significant cost for public finances.
2nd cause of death in France
Cardiovascular diseases cause an average of 140,000 deaths per year among adults, or more than one in five deaths. It is the second cause of death for all ages, behind cancer, and the first among those over 85.
In detail, in 2022, ischemic heart disease caused 31,000 deaths, heart failure, 25,000, and stroke, more than 30,000. The latter are the leading cause of cardiovascular mortality in women, with 18,000 deaths per year, specifies Public Health France (SPF).
More than 70,000 women die each year
Contrary to popular belief, cardiovascular diseases do not primarily affect men. On the contrary, they cause more victims among women: 64,161 men died from them in 2023, compared to 72,078 women. This is five times more than breast cancer-related deaths in the same year.
“Faced with ischemic cardiovascular disease, women are less well taken care of than men: they call the Samu later, they are less frequently admitted to cardiological intensive care, they have more acute complications, they have a higher early mortality and they are less often referred for cardiovascular rehabilitation,” underlines Public Health France.
These diseases also affect increasingly younger patients. Since 2008, heart attacks and angina have increased by more than 5% per year in women under 65, according to SPF.
More than 15 million patients under treatment
In 2022, approximately 5.6 million people were treated for cardiovascular disease and 8.5 million for cardiovascular risk, whether with medication for hypertension or to lower cholesterol levels.
If we add the 4.3 million patients treated for diabetes, another major risk factor, more than 15 million people are treated in France for cardiovascular disease or risk.
14% of Medicare expenses
In 2023, the treatment of cardiovascular diseases represented a cost of 29 billion euros, or 14.3% of total Health Insurance expenditure. Nearly two thirds of this sum (17.1 billion euros) were allocated to chronic pathologies, that is to say without acute events during the year.
For comparison, the same year, Social Security allocated 10.9 billion euros to diabetes care or 27.8 billion euros to mental health and 27.1 billion euros to cancer.
+ 19% prevalence by 2035
According to Health Insurance projections, the prevalence of cardiovascular diseases is expected to increase by 19% by 2035, or 1.2 million additional people suffering from this type of pathologies. The number of people affected by cardiovascular risk could reach 10 million.
This scenario is based on the continuation of the dynamics observed between 2019 and 2023. But the new law adopted on Monday could change the situation. The text aims to improve prevention through the implementation of screening tests for these diseases during prevention appointments, and raising awareness of risk factors such as tobacco, alcohol, sedentary lifestyle and obesity.
