Prevention of Cardiovascular Diseases in Deprived Neighbourhoods

Abstract

Worldwide, cardiovascular diseases (CVD) remain the leading cause of morbidity and mortality even though mortality rates in the industrialised countries have declined over the past decades. Recent WHO reports show that an estimated 17 million people die every year of CVD, particularly from myocardial infarction and strokes [1]. In Western countries, such as the Netherlands, discrepancies in cardiovascular morbidity and mortality according to ethnicity and socio-economic status still exist [2,3]. Although improvements have been made in reducing cardiovascular mortality and morbidity at the national level, the prevalence of cardiovascular risk factors (such as smoking behaviour and overweight) is higher among individuals with a low socio-economic status and, more specifi cally, among ethnic minorities than those people with a high socio-economic status and the indigenous Dutch population [4-6]. Persons with a low socio-economic status and ethnic minorities mainly live in the so-called deprived neighbourhoods [7]. In the Netherlands, neighbourhoods are identifi ed as “deprived” according to an index based on income, the number of individuals that depend on social benefi ts, and the level of urbanisation [8]