Background: The leading cause of death and loss of disability-adjusted life years globally are cardiovascular diseases. Conventional risk factors for cardiovascular diseases only partly account for the social gradient. The aim of this study was to estimate the occurrence of common cardiovascular diseases and cardiovascular mortality in defined populations in two geographical close but socially different cities, a white-collar and a blue-collar twin city - “The Twincities”.
Methods: We focused on the total population in these two neighbouring and equally sized cities with a population of around 135 000 inhabitants respectively, representing two close but different social environments in the same Swedish county. Data about morbidity for the two cities was derived from an administrative health care register based on medical records assigned by the physicians at both hospitals and primary care and calculated as cumulative incidence rates. Mortality for ischemic heart diseases is based on official Swedish national statistics.
Results: The cumulative incidence of cardiovascular diagnoses for younger as well as elderly men and women revealed significant differences between these two cities. The relative risks for both sexes were highest for all cardiovascular diagnosis studied and cardiovascular mortality in the population of the blue-collar twin city.
Conclusions: There are major differences in cardiovascular morbidity and mortality between the studied twin cities representing two close but different social environments. Since these differences seem to be profound and stable over time preventive measures is warranted in the blue-collar city.