CVDs Account for 31% of Global Deaths

Annually, over 18 million people die worldwide due to cardiovascular diseases (CVDs), accounting for 31% of all deaths, said Dr. Nasser Almasi, head of the cardiovascular biomarkers section of the 10th International and 15th National Congress on Quality Improvement in Clinical Laboratories. “Nearly 75% of all such diseases and deaths occur in low and middle income countries,” he was quoted by Mehr News Agency as saying. The international event, slated for April 20-23 at Tehran’s Milad Tower, will focus on a number of factors affecting quality services in clinical laboratories. Accurate quality clinical tests to identify biomarkers (a naturally occurring molecule, gene, or characteristic by which a particular pathological or physiological process, disease, etc. can be identified) are of great importance in diagnosing heart conditions, Almasi stressed.