Heart failure & cardiomyopathiesCohort study
Heart Failure-Attributed Mortality in Europe, 2012–2021
- Population-based mortality trend study
- joinpoint regression
- World Health Organization (WHO) mortality dataset
Authors' conclusion
Heart failure-attributed mortality in Europe increased between 2012 and 2021.
Study context
- Population
- Deaths attributed to heart failure (HF) in Europe, WHO mortality dataset, 2012–2021
- Participants
- 4,872,634 HF deaths
- Outcome
- HF-attributed age-adjusted mortality rate (AAMR) trend, as average annual percent change (AAPC)
- Follow-up
- 2012–2021
Main finding
As reported in the abstract
Overall AAMR trend
HF deaths per 100 000 population
11 522
AAMR increased, average annual percent change (AAPC)
+0.4% (95% CI 0.3-0.5), p < 0.001
Observational data: associations, not effects.
Further findings
| Outcome | Western Europe | Eastern Europe | Northern Europe | Southern Europe |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| AAMR trend by European region · Southern Europe plateaued | AAPC +1.2% (95% CI 1.0–1.4) | AAPC +0.9% (95% CI 0.7–1.0) | AAPC +0.5 (95% CI 0.3–0.6) | AAPC +3.2% (95% CI −3.2–10.1) |
| P | p < 0.001 | p < 0.001 | p < 0.001 | p = 0.28 |
AAMR trend by sex
- Significantly greater increase in men than women
- p for parallelism = 0.02
- 2 084 521 men and 2 788 113 women died due to HF
AAMR trend by age
- Higher increase in age <70 years than ≥70 years
- p for parallelism = 0.001
AAMR trend, HF with reduced vs preserved EF
- Similar increase in HFrEF and HFpEF
- p for parallelism = 0.18
Risk factor prevalence · 2012–2021
- Age-adjusted prevalence of overweight, obesity and diabetes mellitus (DM) rose; Hypertension (HTN), smoking and alcohol consumption decreased
Original publication
Heart Failure-Attributed Mortality in Europe, 2012–2021. Eur J Heart Fail. Published 17 August 2025. doi:10.1002/ejhf.70001
Summarised from the published abstract; every number is checked against it