Key Points

• In French Guiana, the proportion of people hospitalized each year for the treatment of ischemic heart disease was lower than the national average between 2021 and 2023; the age-standardized incidence was 322 hospitalizations per 100,000 inhabitants, compared to 459 nationally. The proportion of people living with this condition, as well as deaths caused by it, were also lower. In fact, the prevalence of ischemic heart disease was 3.7% in French Guiana (5.5% nationally) in 2022, and 27 people died from this condition each year between 2020 and 2022, corresponding to a standardized mortality rate for this condition of 36 per 100,000 inhabitants, which is lower in the region compared to the national rate (59 per 100,000 inhabitants).

• Unlike ischemic heart disease, heart failure represents a greater health burden in French Guiana than at the national level. Indeed, the standardized incidence of new hospitalizations was higher in French Guiana (360 vs. 344 per 100,000 inhabitants nationally) between 2021 and 2023. The proportion of people with heart failure in French Guiana in 2022 was also higher (3.0% versus 2.5% nationally). However, between 2020 and 2022, 22 people died of heart failure each year in French Guiana, representing a standardized mortality rate lower than the national rate (38 versus 46 per 100,000 inhabitants nationally): one possible explanation is that people with heart failure in French Guiana die from other causes.

• Finally, strokes are also more common in French Guiana: it is the second department with the highest standardized annual incidence of patients hospitalized for stroke. This rate was significantly higher than the national average (364 vs. 231 per 100,000 inhabitants) between 2021 and 2023. In 2022, 2,951 people living in French Guiana had already had a stroke (in 2022 or in previous years). The proportion of people who had already had a stroke was higher in French Guiana than at the national level (3.3% versus 2.0% nationally); it is also the department with the highest prevalence. Finally, there were on average 1.7 times more stroke-related deaths per year in French Guiana than at the national level during the 2020–2022 period (standardized mortality rate of 98 versus 58 per 100,000 inhabitants).