OBJECTIVES : Ischaemic heart disease (IHD) is a leading cause in cardiovascular mortality. There were nine million deaths worldwide in 2016, while 1.7 million in Europe. IHD has major numbers in early mortality as well. Our aim was to assess standardized early mortality of IHD per 100,000 people in 45-59 age group.

METHODS : Data were derived from the WHO European Mortality Database for the years 1990 and 2014, for the age group 45-59. We compared standardised mortality related to ischaemic heart disease in 100,000 population in Eastern European countries (EE; Bosnia-Hercegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Rumania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Serbia), Western European countries (WE; 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 (fSU; Azerbaijan, Armenia, Estonia, Belorussia, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kirgizia, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova, Russia, Tajikistan, Turkmenia, Ukraine, Uzbekistan) in both sexes. In our analysis we used descriptive statistics, independent samples t-test.

RESULTS : In 1990, standardized mortality in men 45-59 was the highest in fSU (n=15) 358.69/100,000, the lowest rate was found in WE (n=17) 143.67/100,000. It significantly decreased to 244.99/100,000 (-31.70%, n=11) and 50.29/100,000 (-65.00%, n=15) by 2014 respectively (p<0.05). In 1990, standardized mortality in women 45-59 was the highest in fSU (n=15) 99.78/100,000, the lowest rate was found in WE (n=17) 29.06/100,000. It significantly decreased to 56.26/100,000 (-43.61%, n=11) and 9.89/100,000 (-65.97%, n=15) by 2014 respectively (p<0.05). Mortality also decreased significantly (p<0.001) among men (-49.41%) and women (-50.57%) in EE between 1990 and 2014.

CONCLUSIONS : A significant decline was detected in standardized mortality of IHD in both sexes aged 45-59 between the assessed time period. The highest improvement was observed in Western-European countries.