Educational inequalities in cardiovascular mortality in Spanish regions (2016-2021).

Objective: Cardiovascular diseases (CVD) are the leading cause of death in low-mortality countries, but subpopulation level differences exist. This study assesses educational inequalities in CVD mortality by sex in Spanish regions (2016-2021).

Methods: Age-standardised mortality rates by sex, region and education were estimated using individual-level mortality data from individuals aged ≥35 years residing in Spain provided by the Spanish National Statistics Institute. The Relative and the Slope Indexes of Inequality (RII and SII) were estimated to assess educational inequalities.

Results: For the whole Spain, RII was 1.79 (IC95%: 1.42-2.26) for women and 1.59 (IC95%: 1.33-1.91) for men, with differences across regions. The greatest inequalities were found in the Balearic and Canary Islands, and the lowest in La Rioja.

Conclusions: Continued efforts monitoring and tackling cardiovascular morbidity and its determinants are needed at the national and regional level to further contribute to reducing cardiovascular mortality levels and inequalities therein.