Epidemiological analysis of health situation development in Europe and its causes until 1990.

The enormous health gap between the 'new' (eastern) and 'old' (western) parts of the EU has evolved over many decades. The epidemiological transition - that is the decrease in the relative importance of infant and early child mortality and the shift in the composition of mortality risks from communicable to non-communicable diseases - which started in the western part of the region at the beginning of the 20th century, was substantially delayed...