Coronary heart disease: the MONICA-BELLUX Register

Background : Cardiovascular diseases contribute to 42% of overall mortality in the
European Union. Over a third of deaths from CVD are from coronary heart disease and
just over a quarter are from cerebrovascular disease (stroke). Standardized death rates for heart disease have fallen dramatically in the last 25 years in Western Europe, both for men and for women. Multinational MONItoring of trends and determinants in CArdiovascular disease
The MONICA Project : A major source of information on cardiovascular diseases established
in the early 1980s under the auspices of WHO, to monitor trends in cardiovascular diseases and to relate these to risk factor changes over a ten year period. There were a total of 37 MONICA Collaborating Centres in 21 countries (including 29 populations in 16 European countries).
The ten year data collection was completed in the late 1990s, though several Centres are still active today. Conclusions : CVD registers remain nevertheless an invaluable source for
monitoring levels and trends in incidence and case fatality. Trends in incidence rates and in case fatality rates can significantly differ from one another. This situation requires better detection of individuals at risk. The intervention component of the BELLUX register is well-suited for this task.