OBJECTIVES : Cerebrovascular diseases are among the leading causes of death worldwide and one of the major causes of disability. The aim of our study was to analyse age-specific standardised mortality related to cerebrovascular diseases in 100,000 population among women.

METHODS : Data were derived from the WHO European Mortality Database for the years 1990 and 2015, for the age group above 65 among women. We analysed mortality of women and compared standardised mortality related to cerebrovascular diseases per 100,000 population in Eastern European countries (Bosnia-Hercegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Rumania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Serbia), Western European countries (Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, the Netherlands, Ireland, Luxemburg, Norway, Italy, United Kingdom, Portugal, Sweden, Spain, Switzerland) and former states of the Soviet Union (Azerbaijan, Armenia, Estonia, Belorussia, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kirgizia, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova, Russia, Tajikistan, Turkmenia, Ukraine, Uzbekistan). In our analysis we used descriptive statistics and Kruskal-Wallis test.

RESULTS : Cerebrovascular diseases mortality per 100,000 populations above the age of 65 in case of women was the lowest in Western European countries (1990: 702.27; 2014: 247.93), and the highest in former Soviet Union countries (1990: 1195.18, 2014: 736.53) (p<0.05). Significant differences were found cerebrovascular diseases mortality above the age of 65 in females between Eastern and Western European countries and between Western European countries and former Soviet Union countries (1990, 2004, 2014: p<0.05). Between 1990-2014, standardised cerebrovascular diseases mortality showed the biggest decrease in Western European countries (-64.70%) followed by Eastern European (-43.89%) and former Soviet Union countries (-38.38%) concerning women.

CONCLUSIONS : Number of deaths in women decreased significantly in every region between 1990-2014, however, the pace of change showed differences among them.