Chronic disease research in Europe and the need for integrated population cohorts

The burden of chronic disease in Europe is characterized by several positive trends, but also some major new challenges. On one hand there has been an important and consistent reduction in mortality, particularly in young and middle age that has led to a substantial increase in life expectancy in all 28 countries within the EU (EU28) in the last 40 years. Even within the relatively recent period of 2003–2013, there was an increase in life expectancy of 3.2 years for men and 2.5 years for women overall in the EU (Fig. 1) [1]. While these trends represent a major success in public health, they hide less positive developments, including major health disparities. Across Europe major differences in life expectancy exist, of over 10 years for men and over 7 years for women (Table 1) [1]. These differences are most extreme between southern Mediterranean Europe and the countries of central Europe and the Baltic region.