Mortality, cause specific: the source of information is the death certificate, therefore the reliability of mortality data depends on accuracy of the vital registration system in each country. Causes of death are coded according to the International Classification of Diseases and Causes of Death (ICD). Problems of temporal and geographic comparison derive from different versions of the ICD adopted over time. Specific indicators are:

• crude death rate: total number of deaths divided by estimated mid-year population per 1,000
• cause-specific crude death rate: number of cause-specific deaths divided by estimated mid-year population per 1,000
• age-specific death rate: total number of deaths divided by mid-year population per 1,000 for specific age groups.
• age-standardized death rate: death rate estimated after age-standardization has been performed.

Morbidity, diseases specific: it can be assessed using different information sources, from hospital discharge rate to attack/incidence rate of disease (first event / first and recurrent events), from prevalence to case fatality. Generally, it is useful to adopt crude rates and absolute numbers. Individual indicators are defined as follows:

• hospital discharge rate or hospitalization rate: number of hospital discharge records of a specified main diagnosis divided by estimated population per 1,000
• attack rate: number of events (first and recurrent) by estimated population per 1,000
• incidence rate: number of first events divided by population at risk per 1,000. Incidence may be estimated through the follow-up of a population enrolled in a cohort study or by the identification of new events in a dynamic population. It can be obtained using longitudinal studies or disease registers, when it is possible to exclude those persons who have already experienced an event
• prevalence: proportion of people with a specific disease in a population per 1,000 or per 100 at a particular time
• case fatality: number of fatal cases divided by total number of events.

The importance of these indicators varies according to the disease in question, age range and planned use:

• incidence, case fatality and prevalence rates: they are the most important indicators in younger age groups; incidence is particularly relevant in the case of acute events and especially useful for etiological research objectives
• attack and prevalence rates: they are the most important indicators in the surveillance of old people since patients with chronic diseases have a greater impact on public health system; these data are useful for hospital planning and primary care.

Disability: CVD is among the leading causes of disability.

• Disability-Adjusted Life Year - DALY: years lost due to premature mortality and years lived with disability. It is equal to the sum of the number of years lost due to CVD in a population (YLL) and to the number of years lived with disability of known severity and duration for a CVD in a population (YLD)
• potential Years of Life Lost - PYLL: it is a measure of impact of premature mortality. It’s the sum of the years that people dying from a CVD would have lived, had they experienced a normal life expectancy usually determined at 65 years
• activities of Daily Living - ADL: this index measures six basic functions (moving between rooms, using lavatory, washing and bathing, dressing and undressing, getting in and out of bed, and feeding oneself). It has the following scores: A (person independent in every item), B (dependent in one item), C (dependent in two items), D (dependent in three items), E (dependent in four items), F (dependent in five items), G (person dependent in all functions)
• instrumental Activities of Daily Living - IADL: it measures more complex functions (using telephone, getting to places beyond walking distance, grocery shopping, preparing meals, doing housework or handyman work, doing laundry, taking medications, managing money). Score ranges from 8 (able to perform all functions) to 0 (cannot perform any function)
• EuroQol (EQ):  it is a standardized instrument for use as a measure of health outcome. Applicable to a wide range of situations, it provides a simple descriptive profile for health status. This index can be used in the clinical and economic evaluation of health care as well as in population health surveys.