Paul Gogarty (Dublin Mid West, Green Party)
Link to this: Individually | In context

Question 87: To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Health and Children the proportion of cardiovascular disease treated here which is related to obesity. [8406/06]

Paul Gogarty (Dublin Mid West, Green Party)
Link to this: Individually | In context

Question 88: To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Health and Children the proportion of cardiovascular disease treated here which is related to smoking. [8407/06]

Paul Gogarty (Dublin Mid West, Green Party)
Link to this: Individually | In context

Question 89: To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Health and Children the proportion of cardiovascular disease treated here which is related to childhood obesity. [8408/06]

Paul Gogarty (Dublin Mid West, Green Party)
Link to this: Individually | In context

Question 90: To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Health and Children the proportion of cardiovascular disease treated here which is related to alcohol abuse. [8409/06]

Seán Power (Kildare South, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context

I propose to take Questions Nos. 87 to 90, inclusive, together.

Death rates from coronary heart disease and stroke have been decreasing steadily in Ireland in recent years. Half of all deaths in Ireland in 1980 were attributed to cardiovascular disease. By 2004, the proportion of all deaths attributed to cardiovascular conditions was 38%.

I understand that factors associated with the trends in coronary heart disease death rates between 1985 and 2000 were studied in a mathematical model by Dr. Kathleen Bennett and colleagues in the department of therapeutics, Trinity College Dublin, based at St. James's Hospital. The IMPACT model estimated that 61% of the trends in mortality were due to improved risk factors, and 49% to more effective treatments but that the decrease would have been 14% greater were it not for deterioration of factors such as body weight, diabetes and physical inactivity.

While it is not possible to state the proportion of current cases attributable to obesity, the IMPACT model estimated that deaths would have been 4% lower in 2000 but for the increase in obesity in the population.

It is too soon to see the effects of childhood obesity on deaths and sickness from vascular diseases. A slowing, a halt or even a reversal of the current decreasing death rates in middle age would be expected when the current cohort of children and teenagers enter their late 40s and 50s.

The model estimated that there were 25% fewer coronary heart disease deaths in 2000 due to lower prevalence of smoking in the population compared to 1985.

The effect of alcohol on death rates was not included in the above modelling study. High alcohol intakes are associated with increasing risk of cardiovascular disease, through increased blood pressure, increase in body weight — also associated with increased blood pressure — through deterioration in blood fats, and through poorer eating habits and higher prevalence of smoking in those with high alcohol intake. The high alcohol intakes of those currently in their 20s would be expected to increase their risk of coronary heart disease and of stroke when this cohort enters middle age.