Aims: Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is the main cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide and is linked with a regional economic burden. We analysed and compared global trends as well as regional and sociodemographic differences in CVD incidence and mortality. Methods and results: We obtained data to annual incident cases, deaths, age-standardized incidence rates (ASIRs), and age-standardized mortality rates (ASMRs) of CVD during 1990–2019 from the 2019 Global Burden of Disease Study. To quantify the temporal trends, we calculated changes in the incident cases and deaths as well as the estimated annual percentage changes (EAPCs) of age-standardized rates. Globally, CVD incident cases increased by 77.12% from 31.31 million in 1990 to 55.45 million in 2019; deaths rose by 53.81% from 12.07 million in 1990 to 18.56 million in 2019. The overall ASIR [EAPC, −0.56; 95% confidence interval (CI), −0.59 to −0.53] and ASMR (EAPC, −1.46; 95%CI, −1.51 to −1.40) decreased in this period. Against the global trend of ASIR falling, an increasing trend was found in Uzbekistan (EAPC, 1.24; 95%CI, 0.97–1.50), Tajikistan (EAPC, 0.49; 95%CI, 0.47–0.52), and Zimbabwe (EAPC, 0.42; 95%CI, 0.33–0.50). The number of CVD incident cases increased remarkably in low (108.3%), low-middle (114.81%), and middle (117.85%) sociodemographic index regions in 1990–2019. Conclusion: Despite the increased number of CVD cases and deaths after adjusting for changes in population age, we observed a consistent decrease in age-standardized incidence and mortality in most countries. However, specific regions—especially low to middle SDI regions—present worrying increases in CVD cases and deaths.

Lifetime risk estimation is used to predict long-term cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk across the entire life span. However, most of the lifetime risk estimation came from the studies based on western population. This study aimed to assess the lifetime risk of CVD and the impact of risk factors on lifetime risk of CVD in Chinese population. Prospective population-based cohort study. The study sample came from the Chinese Multi-Provincial Cohort Study (CMCS), 21,953 participants aged 35 to 84 years without CVD at the baseline were included. The modified Kaplan-Meier method was used to calculate the lifetime risk of CVD. During follow-up years from 1992 to 2010, 1,280 participants developed acute CVD events and 1,401 died. The lifetime CVD risk, up to age 80 for men and women at age 35, were 24.4% and 20.2% respectively. A very low lifetime risk was found in individuals with an optimal profile of risk factors which modified the effect of aging. By contrast, with two or more high risk factors the lifetime risk up to age 80 reached 51.1% for men and 38.6% for women at age 35. The integrated status of major CVD risk factors can determine lifetime cardiovascular health and CVD risk in Chinese. Early prevention with a goal of all risk factors at optimal levels should become the priority of CVD prevention in the future.