Potentially preventable premature deaths in women and men from the two leading causes of death in Austria, mortality statistics of the nine federal states 2010–2012

BACKGROUND In Austria, mortality from diseases of the circulatory system and malignant neoplasms is high and varies among the federal states. Lower mortality in some states indicates a preventive potential in those states with higher mortality. METHODS We computed the number of premature deaths, for women and men separately, from the two leading causes of death, diseases of the circulatory system (ICD-10: I00-I09) and cancer (ICD-10: C00-C97), in the nine Austrian federal states between 2010-2012. The potentially preventable deaths per federal state and sex were calculated by subtracting expected deaths from observed deaths. RESULTS The western federal states had the lowest death rates, and thus the smallest preventive potential. In death from circulatory diseases and from cancer the differences between women and men varied remarkably between the federal states. For circulatory diseases among all federal states the highest difference in percent was given in Vorarlberg (6.2%) with more potentially preventable deaths for men. For cancer, Burgenland had the highest difference (8.6%) in comparison with the other federal states, again with the higher preventive potential for men. CONCLUSIONS Intervention programs as lifestyle modification interventions as well as improvements in health care services provision, should focus on the characteristics of the specific federal state, which are setting-oriented and account for social determinants including sex/gender differences and economic factors. Relevant data gathering is therefore, urgently needed.