Objective:

To update some important aspects of the descriptive epidemiology of ischemic heart (EIC) disease in Costa Rica during the period 1970-2014.

Methods:

EIC death rates were obtained in two periods: from 1930 to 1969 and then, for a more specific analysis, from 1970 to 2014, using moving and five-year averages, based on data from the Instituto Nacional de Estadística and the Centro Centroamericano de Población, to analyze them according to age, sex, geographical location and percentage contribution to the general mortality. Information was also obtained to determine the burden of the disease, in this case through Years of Adjusted Life for Disability, Years of Life Lost and Years of Life lost due to Disability.

Results:

There was a rise in rates in the general population, with greater momentum in the population from 35 to 74 years, up to the five-year period 1995-1999, after which a decline began that apparently stopped during the five-year period 2010-2014 (both sexes: r = 0.9964, r2 = 0.9928, β = -2.4950, p 0.04; men: r = 0.9994, r2 = 0.9988, β = -2.770, p = 0.02; women: r = 0.9896, r2 = 0.9793, β = -2.4950, p = 0.07). The highest rates occur in the provinces of the center of the country. It predominates during the whole period in the male sex and represents on average 14% of the general mortality.

Conclusions:

Mortality due to EIC is in a phase of decline but the increase in obesity and overweight in the country threatens to slow down this trend, at least during the last five years.

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