Cancer overtakes heart disease as the main cause of death in 12 European countries

(European Society of Cardiology) Although diseases of the heart and blood vessels (cardiovascular disease, CVD) kill more people worldwide than anything else, with 17.3 million deaths globally, cancer has now overtaken CVD as the main cause of death in 12 European countries. This is according to new data on the burden of CVD in Europe for 2016 published in the European Heart Journal.