Abstract
We read with interest Rehberg and col-leagues' article "Mortality Patterns in the Southern Adri-atic Islands of Croatia: a Registry-based Study," recently published in the Croatian Medical Journal (1). The authors compared the mortality patterns between the Southern Adriatic islands of Croatia and two predominantly coastal Croatian mainland counties.
One of the major findings was that although the island inhabitants currently had a longer lifespan than the mainland population, there was no differ-ence in life expectancy at birth. The leading cause of death in the islands was cardiovascular disease, with higher per-centage rates in men and lower in women compared with the mainland.
The authors attributed the increasingly un-favorable mortality patterns in the recent generations of islanders to the diminishing adherence to the Mediterra-nean diet and lifestyle.