INFORMATION AVAILABILITY: KEY TO DESIGN PREVENTION PROGRAMS

Abstract

Planning and prioritizing resource allocation in prevention and patient care depends on availability of information on the evolution of incidence and mortality rates, case-fatality, and other related factors regarding the diseases with the greatest population impact on public health.1 One example of the importance of having access to quality information is our need to understand cardiovascular diseases (CVD) and the associated risk factors. Indeed, CVD remains the most common cause of death in Europe with >60 million potential years of life lost to CVD in Europe annually.