Heart Disease

"Heart disease is responsible in the world, one third of all deaths and become a public health problem of first magnitude. Can be prevented by avoiding or keeping under control the main risk factors: obesity , smoking, high cholesterol, diabetes, stress and hypertension. Caring diet (low in fat and salt), doing physical exercise and avoiding stress, is already in a good way to prevent heart problems ".

According to Raul D. Santos, Vice Chairman of the Department of Atherosclerosis of Brazilian Society of Cardiology, diseases of the circulatory system are the leading cause of death for all ages in our country, especially stroke and coronary disease.

In the world, according to I. Martin, a physician responsible for the area of ​​cardiovascular diseases at the World Health Organization (WHO), are 15 million deaths per year, accounting for 30% of global deaths. "Individually, stroke in 1997 caused about 25% of deaths of vascular causes. However, if we add myocardial infarction with ischemic heart disease, manifestations of the same disease, we see that coronary atherosclerosis was responsible for 33% of deaths ".

According to Dr. Raul, the main risk factor for stroke is high blood pressure. "In relation to coronary heart disease, a number of predisposing factors are considered. Among them we can mention cholesterol, hypertension, smoking, diabetes mellitus, low HDL-cholesterol, menopause, men over 45 years, family history for premature atherosclerosis (under 55 years and 65 years respectively for direct relatives of male and female) and obesity. "

According to Martin, two thirds of the deaths from cardiovascular disease occur in developing countries. These countries, including Brazil, have a number of deaths from cardiovascular disease two times higher than developed countries. In Brazil, these diseases are found even as the leading cause of death: 27% of the deaths took place in 1994 of heart problems.

Martin's intention to expose this information in the article End myths about them heart them. (World Salud, 1998, quoted by Ruy Laurenti and Cassia Maria Buchalla, conference published in the Brazilian Archives of Cardiology, Volume 76, No. 2, pgs. 99-104 in 2001) prove that there is just a myth the claim that Cardiovascular diseases are the prerogatives of areas considered most developed and rich. In fact, lack of information and access to health care not only corroborate the heart problems as statistics mask, giving this false impression that the richest countries, which account better the cause of their deaths, are more prone to problems heart.

According to L. Husten (Global epidemic of cardio-vascular diseases predicted. Lancet 1998, 352:1530-42), also quoted by Ruy and Cassia in his article in the coming decades the least developed countries will suffer an epidemic of cardiovascular disease, the result of an increase risk factors arising from better economic conditions and increased life expectancy. Although this may seem a contradiction, at first, improving economic conditions lead to tasty high-fat diets and sedentary lifestyle comfortably.

The next moment, access to information reshapes the way of life, leads to the consumption of healthier foods and sports. Confirming this conclusion, data presented in Rio de Janeiro in 1998, the 13th World Congress of Cardiology, by A. Achutti (Cardiovascular diseases epidemiology in Brazil), show that lower education, greater exposure to risk factors.

Costa e Silva, in her dissertation at FIOCRUZ (National School of Public Health), defended in 1999, says this trend exactly "evil" of increased risk of illness and mortality from potentially preventable diseases in the population of low education and, possibly, low income and, therefore, "with less access to benefits of prevention and treatment of these diseases."

Martin also knocks down the myth that cardiovascular diseases are basically diseases of man, although ischemic heart disease is less common in women before menopause. In fact, in many parts of the world, heart disease is the most frequent cause of death for women, even before 65 years of age.

Another myth is questioned by Martin that heart disease is only problems of the elderly. Of course, the researcher explains that its incidence increases with advancing age, but a number of industrialized countries accounts for one third of 'heart attacks' on people under 65 years of age. In less developed countries, this situation is even more pronounced, probably due to poor quality of medical care, comment Reddy KS and Yusuf S., in the article "Emerging epidemic of cardiovascular disease in developing countries" that circulated in 1998. Laurenti Buchalla and add that this finding may be due to the difficulty of access of a portion of the population of developing countries to any kind of assistance, be it good or bad.

According to 1994 data, the CENEPI / National Health Foundation, on mortality in Brazil, 11.6% of deaths from cardiovascular disease occur from 30 to 49 years and 35.7% from 50 to 69 years. In all Brazilian regions, deaths from ischemic heart disease between 30 and 49 represent values ​​higher than 11% of all deaths, except in the South (9.9%), considered more developed.

The information collected by these researchers and analyzed by Laurenti Buchalla and suggest that it is possible to reduce cardiovascular disease and that prevention efforts are currently being developed are more likely to delay the onset of ischemic heart disease and cerebrovascular diseases.

According to D. Chor, in PhD thesis defended at the Faculty of Public Health, University of São Paulo in 1996, quoted by Buchalla and Laurenti, "The reduction of the incidence rates would have a better chance of being achieved if a new generation to develop habits and environment healthier, since the beginning of life to adulthood.

Still, the controls of the causes of atherosclerosis and arterial pressure elevation bring benefits in terms of longevity and improved quality of life, is therefore warranted, particularly for countries like Brazil, where as we have seen, mortality from diseases cardiovascular grid reaches a contingent of young adults. "