A simulated 30% reduction in population salt intake over 20 years would reduce the prevalence of stroke by 6.4% to 13.5% and ischemic heart disease by 4.1% to 8.9% across nine European countries.
Does salt reduction to 5 grams per day reduce the prevalence of stroke, ischemic heart disease, and mortality in European populations?
Reducing salt intake to the WHO goal of 5 grams per day is projected to substantially decrease the burden of cardiovascular disease and mortality across Europe.
Excessive salt intake is associated with hypertension and cardiovascular diseases. Salt intake exceeds the World Health Organization population nutrition goal of 5 grams per day in the European region. We assessed the health impact of salt reduction in nine European countries (Finland, France, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, Poland, Spain, Sweden and United Kingdom). Through literature research we obtained current salt intake and systolic blood pressure levels of the nine countries. The population health modeling tool DYNAMO-HIA including country-specific disease data was used to predict the changes in prevalence of ischemic heart disease and stroke for each country estimating the effect of salt reduction through its effect on blood pressure levels. A 30% salt reduction would reduce the prevalence of stroke by 6.4% in Finland to 13.5% in Poland. Ischemic heart disease would be decreased by 4.1% in Finland to 8.9% in Poland. When salt intake is reduced to the WHO population nutrient goal, it would reduce the prevalence of stroke from 10.1% in Finland to 23.1% in Poland. Ischemic heart disease would decrease by 6.6% in Finland to 15.5% in Poland. The number of postponed deaths would be 102,100 (0.9%) in France, and 191,300 (2.3%) in Poland. A reduction of salt intake to 5 grams per day is expected to substantially reduce the burden of cardiovascular disease and mortality in several European countries.
Hendriksen et al. (Tue,) conducted a other in Cardiovascular disease (stroke and ischemic heart disease). Population-wide salt reduction vs. Current salt intake was evaluated on Prevalence of stroke and ischemic heart disease. A simulated 30% reduction in population salt intake over 20 years would reduce the prevalence of stroke by 6.4% to 13.5% and ischemic heart disease by 4.1% to 8.9% across nine European countries.