Recent Trends in Cardiovascular Disease and Risk Factors in the Seven Countries: The Netherlands

Summary

This chapter describes trends in total cholesterol, blood pressure, cigarette smoking, and body mass index in the Netherlands. Data from three screening projects are available, carried out consecutively in the periods 1974–1980 (men and women aged 37–43 years), 1981–1986 (men aged 33–37 years), and 1987–1991 (men and women aged 20–59 years). For smoking, data are available since 1958. For total cholesterol no substantial changes have taken place in the general population. The prevalence of hypertension has remained more or less stable, while treatment of hypertension has decreased since 1987. A decrease in cigarette smoking in men was strongest in the 1970s, slowed down considerably in the 1980s, and has almost come to a standstill in the 1990s. In women, prevalence of smoking increased in the 1970s and decreased slightly in the 1980s and 1990s. Body mass index showed a slight increase over the last decades, particularly in the second half of the 1980s. It is concluded that elevated major risk factors for coronary heart disease are still present in a large proportion of the Dutch population. To reduce the burden of chronic diseases in our aging society, influencing risk-factor levels in the general population is an important challenge for the years to come.