• The senior population in Europe is about to experience an exponential growth in the next years with a corresponding vast increase in prevalence of SHD.
• The proportionate change in our demographics requires a corresponding proportionate change in our health systems.
• EU Member States face an unprecedented challenge to their economic stability and social structures through the drastic increase in older citizens as a percentage of population.
• Preserving senior citizens autonomy through enabling treatments is an economic imperative. It should be looked on no more differently than an economic crisis that requires comprehensive policy responses.

References

1. Eurostat (2017) People in the EU – population projections, http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statistics-explained/index.php?title=People_in_the_EU_-_population_projections [retrieved on: 25/July/2018]
2. Eurostat (2017) People in the EU – population projections, http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statistics-explained/index.php?title=People_in_the_EU_-_population_projections [retrieved on: 25/July/2018]
3. J. d’Arcy et al. (2016) Large-scale community echocardiographic screening reveals a major burden of undiagnosed valvular heart disease in older people: 
   the OxVALVE Population Cohort Study www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27354049 [retrieved on: 25/July/2018]
4. Eurostat (2017) People in the EU – population projections, http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statistics-explained/index.php?title=People_in_the_EU_-_population_projections [retrieved on: 25/July/2018]
5. The old age dependency ration is defined as the ratio between the number of persons aged 65 years and over to the number of persons aged 15-64,
   expressed as a percentage.
6. Eurostat (2017) Baseline projections: demographic balances and indicators
   appsso.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/nui/submitViewTableAction.do [retrieved on 31/July/2018]