Commentary

Cardiovascular disease generates a substantial bur-den of illness in Canada and beyond. Yet recentepidemiologic trends have been very encouraging. Deaths and rates of morbidity from cardiovascular dis-ease fell by at least 50 % in most countries from about 1980 to 2000. Some two-thirds of this decline can be at-tributed to a decrease in adverse events and reflects re-ductions in the prevalence of major risk factors. The re-maining third is attributable to reduced case-fatality rates, owing mainly to treatments.1 This victory is worth celebrating; but are we winning our long-term war against cardiovascular disease? In this issue, Tu and colleagues report on trends in cardio-vascular disease in Canada between 1994 and 2004.2 Mortal-ity due to cardiovascular disease fell by 30 % in this period. The decline was slightly more for acute myocardial infarction than for stroke and heart failure. Hospitalization rates fo