Diseases of the circulatory system are the main cause of death in our country, accounting for 44% of deaths (year 2002 data). The most frequent are myocardial infarction and stroke, which are of atherosclerotic origin.

The following indicators are used to describe cerebro and cardiovascular disease:

• prevalence: the percentage of patients with a given disease
• mortality: the number of deaths over a specified period of time
• case fatality: the percentage of deaths among sick individuals
• incidence: the number of new cases of disease in a population at risk over a given period of time, usually a calendar year
• attack rate: the number of events in a given population, including recurrences.

This section draws on several sources to provide estimates of prevalence, mortality, case fatality, incidence and attack rate of cardiovascular disease:

• the Osservatorio Epidemiologico Cardiovascolare (Cardiovascular Epidemiologic Observatory) for prevalence data
• the Database on mortality in Italy of the Statistical Department at the Istituto Superiore di Sanità for mortality data
• the Registro nazionale degli eventi coronarici e cerebrovascolari (National Register of major coronary and cerebrovascular events) for case fatality and attack rate
• the CUORE project for incidence data.

Data from the MONICA-OMS Project, collected between mid 1980s and mid 90s, are also available.