Cardiovascular mortality and the financial crisis in Greece: Trends and outlook

摘要

At the end of 2008, Greece was hit by an unprecedented financial crisis, the most serious that any western country has experienced in peacetime, with GDP falling by 22% at constant prices and unemployment rising from 8% to 26% in just four years [1]. Since studies have shown that unemployment, implicating increased psychosocial stress and problematic access to health services, is a significant risk factor for acute cardiovascular events, death rates attributable to cardiovascular disease are likely to increase during a financial depression [2]. A higher incidence of acute myocardial infarction in a region of Greece (southwestern Peloponnese) has recently been reported, which was attributed to the economic crisis [3].