Admissions to the Coronary Care Unit (CCU): Comparison With International Data

Abstract

In the beginning of the 20th century, cardiac diseases were responsible for less than the 10% of deaths in the entire world. At the end of the same century, it was found that they were responsible for 45% of total mortality in the developed countries, for 55% of total mortality in the emerging economically societies, while in the developing societies they accounted for 25% of all deaths. In America, 2.7% per year reduction of cardiac mortality was achieved during the past decade. We should underline that the rate of reduction was not uniform all over America. In Europe, big inequality exists among various countries regarding the magnitude and the time trend of mortality from cardiovascular disease. Eastern European countries have higher mortality rates than the westerners and the same is true for northerners compared to southerners. In Greece, according to the National Statistics Service2, cardiac diseases constituted the leading cause of deaths over the past decade. During the year 2007, 529 patients were hospitalized in the Coronary Care Unit (CCU) of ???Evangelismos?? Hospital in Athens. The medical care of these patients was undertaken by the staff of the 1st Cardiology Department. Based on data derived from this patient population, we present a comparison against international data, in terms of their basic epidemiological features.