Best European Health

1995/12/01 Agirre, Jabier - Medikua eta OEEko kidea Iturria: Elhuyar aldizkaria

• Osasuna

Summarizing in some way, it can be said that Western Europe is healthy and its average age is gradually increasing. Cardiovascular diseases are the leading cause of death, followed by cancer, respiratory diseases and external causes or accidents.

According to the report, the health of the population has reached a level hitherto unknown. The actions carried out in the last forty years, both nationally and internationally, have allowed to improve the quality of life and quantity, so that in 1970 the 320 million people became 350 million. Since 1988, despite the decline in growth rates, the population grows every year by 1.5 million people and projections announce some 360 million people by the year 2000.

However, this continuous growth does not have its origin in the increase in the number of births. In fact, birth rates have declined in member countries since the 1960s. Currently birth rates in the European Union are very low (for example, 1.2 children per woman in Spain or Italy). The continuous growth of the population, however, has its origin in the improvement of factors that directly affect the quality of life, which has meant a significant increase in life expectancy. The population over 65 has increased in the European Union in the last 20 years and it can be said that the percentage of older people will increase to 17.1% in 2010. If life expectancy was 71.8 years in the European Community in 1970, it is currently around 77 years old.

Many and very different factors have contributed to maintaining and improving the health of Europeans. Among the factors that most concern the European Union are those directly related to the appearance of diseases with the highest mortality rate, smoking, alcoholism, toxicomania, bad eating habits, lack of physical exercise and overexposure to ultraviolet rays.

But environmental and social problems also have their responsibility at the health level of the population. Finally, we must not forget that the national health system and international cooperation play a fundamental role, from prevention to medical research, including the quality of health services, the improvement of medicines or the qualification of health personnel.

The combination of both factors allows us to consider, in general, positive the assessment of the health status of the population of the whole community. At present, and after overcoming the dangers of yesteryear (more infections), the efforts of the European Community focus on the fight against certain diseases. Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death in the community, causing nearly 45% of all deaths. Cancer is responsible for 25% of deaths and is followed by respiratory diseases (8%) and deaths from external causes or accidents (5%).

The incidence of different diseases and mortality rates vary widely from one age to another. Thus, accidents and suicides are the main causes of death among young people and the most frequent. Cancer and cardiovascular diseases predominate in adults and cardiovascular diseases are the cause of more than half of deaths in people over 65 years of age, with the incapacity of chronic diseases in this age range very frequent.

The main conclusion drawn by the European Union in its report is that in recent years the health of the community population has improved substantially in global terms. And from there, he proposes to fight against all the diseases mentioned above to reduce the number of premature deaths and, incidentally, increase life expectancy and improve the amount of life.

It should be remembered that the European Commission has already presented several five-year programmes to fight cancer, AIDS prevention and the fight against other communicable diseases, as well as launching education, training and information campaigns at the health and drug control levels. Other programs of accident prevention, analysis and consolidation of the relationship between the environment and health and fight against other less common diseases are currently being developed. All this without forgetting the continued support it offered to research and development programs in biomedicine and health.

Health status of Europeans by age groups

Health status of children (0-14 years)

Infant mortality rates have decreased by half in the European Union, and if in 1970 20 deaths per 1,000 births occurred, in 1992 they did not reach 10. This is due to the progress made in the protection of children and in the care of newborns, but nevertheless, some problems persist in their environment.

Congenital abnormalities are responsible for 25% of infant deaths and it is expected that the new genetic technique and the study of the pregnancy onset fetus will solve many of these problems.

Contagious childhood diseases have practically disappeared thanks to vaccination campaigns. However, there are large differences in vaccination programmes between countries. Thus, in 1992, 94% of children against paper were vaccinated in the Netherlands, 80% in Spain and only 50% in Italy.

Accidents are responsible for most deaths and illnesses of children aged 1 to 14. In children under 5 years of age, most accidents occur at the child's home, while in children who are more involved accidents occur while playing.

Cancer is the second leading cause of infant mortality, but only 0.3% of all cancer cases. The effectiveness of treatments for leukemia and certain solid tumors has led to a significant decrease in mortality in the last 20 years, although the incidence of this disease has increased in some regions of the community.

Health status of youth (15-34 years)

Young people are the ones who best behave. Information and prevention campaigns have had positive effects on this group and today it can be said that young people adopt less harmful behaviors for health. Smoking, alcoholism and exercise are the key points of these campaigns.

For this age group it is necessary to take into account especially the problem of sexually transmitted diseases and the AIDS virus. Every year around 250,000 children are born in the European Community, whose mothers are under 20, with all the consequences that this entails.

Two are the main causes of mortality among young people. Accidents in first place, occupying more than half of the total deaths between 15 and 34 years (of which 50% are road accidents, with numerous invalidations). Of the total deaths from road accidents, 45% are young.

Homicide is in second place. Of the total murders in the European Union, more than 85% have been carried out by young people aged 15 to 34 (or by adults aged 35 to 64). In the last 20 years, homicide levels have been virtually equal in all EU member countries.

Adults (35-64 years old)

In adults, cancer and cardiovascular diseases have a special incidence, which account for more than 70% of the mortality of people over 65.

More than 600,000 adults die each year in the community. Four out of ten die from cancer, three from cardiovascular disease and one out of ten from external causes, in most cases from suicide or accident.

Cancer is the leading cause of mortality in this group. In most cases it is lung or prostate cancer in men and breast or lung cancer in women. 2-3% of women in the community will have breast cancer throughout their lives, causing about 70,000 deaths a year. However, other cancers are also responsible for a high number of deaths, so cervical cancer causes 7,500 deaths a year, while ovarian cancer is responsible for 15,000 deaths and stomach cancer for 1% of total deaths.

The European Union has been tackling the problem for years and has launched several community initiatives and programs against cancer.

Cardiovascular disease causes nearly 45% of all deaths in the community, especially among the elderly and adults. Of these, coronary diseases are the leading cause of death (17%) in the European Community, and stroke attacks would be the cause of one in seven deaths, causing half a million deaths a year.

There are other important risks among adults. Thus, 0.5% of deaths are due to liver diseases. Chronic diseases, on the other hand, although not a direct cause of mortality, are especially serious in adults: it is the case of chronic joint diseases, chronic kidney diseases, diabetes, asthma, bronchitis, epilepsy and occupational diseases.

But the case of AIDS is particularly noteworthy. The number of AIDS cases throughout the community has increased considerably in recent years. France, Italy and Spain are the countries with the highest number of new cases per year. At the end of 1994, more than 120,000 cases were recorded throughout the community, 73% of which occurred in the three countries mentioned, followed by Germany (10%) and the United Kingdom (8%). But these figures are only the tip of the iceberg, considering the long incubation period of the disease. And as for the causes of pollution, while in northern Europe it is more frequent among homosexuals and bisexuals, in the south, and especially in Spain and Italy, the stories occur mainly among drug addicts (66% of cases). The European Union has begun a tough fight against AIDS by implementing different action programmes.

Other communicable diseases (tuberculosis, hepatitis B, malaria, etc.) remain a serious problem in adults such as mental illness (affecting 10% of the population causing about 40,000 suicides a year).

Seniors (over 65)

In this age group, cancer and cardiovascular diseases have a special incidence, which account for more than 70% of the mortality of people over 65 years of age. But there are other diseases directly related to older people that require special attention, such as disability, arthritis, chronic heart disease, hearing impairment, or cases of senile dementia.