Gains in Life Expectancy from Decreasing Cardiovascular Disease and Cancer Mortality – an Analysis of 28 European Countries 1995-2019

András Wéber , Hungarian National Cancer Registry
Mathieu Laversanne, International Agency for Research on Cancer
Péter Nagy, National Institute of Oncology
István Kenessey, National Institute of Oncology
Isabelle Soerjomataram, International Agency for Research on Cancer
Freddie Bray, International Agency for Research on Cancer

Life expectancy (LE) is an indicator of societal progress among aging populations. In recent decades, displacement of deaths from cardiovascular disease (CVD) and cancer have been key drivers in extending LE on the continent, though improvements vary by country, sex, and over time. This study provides an overview of age-specific contributions of CVD and cancer to increasing LE in 27 European Union member states, plus the U.K. Cause-by-age decompositions of changes in LE were conducted for periods 1995-1999 and 2015-2019 based on the approach of multiple decrement life tables to quantify the relative impact over time. The contributions of CVD and cancer mortality changes to differences in LE were computed by sex and age for each of the 28 countries. We examine the difference between the member states before 2004 (“founding countries”) and those which accessed the EU after 2004 (“A10 countries”). Among men, declines in CVD mortality in the founding countries of the EU were larger contributors to increasing LE over the last decades than malignant neoplasms: 2.26 years were gained by CVD declines versus 1.07 years for cancer, with 2.23 and 0.84 years gained in A10 countries, respectively. Among women in founding countries, 1.81 and 0.54 additional life years were attributable to CVD and cancer mortality declines, respectively, while in A10 countries, the corresponding values were 2.33 and 0.37 years. This study underscores the continued existence of an East-West divide in life expectancy across the EU27+1, evident on benchmarking the founding vs. A10 countries.

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 Presented in Session 51. Flash session Causes of Death and Multi-morbidity at Death