Protect your heart with healthy lifestyle changes
The older we get, the more we understand how lifestyle changes influence our well-being, especially when it comes to keeping our heart healthy. But a report from the European Society of Cardiology (ESC), presented at the recent 2010 European Summit on Cardiovascular Disease (CVD) Prevention in France, highlights how despite 'some progress, the big challenges remain' in our quest to protect ourselves. Representatives from the EU, healthcare organisations, national societies, medical experts, and regulators attended the event. Held twice a year, this summit aims to bolster collaboration and build a harmonised strategy for CVD prevention in Europe. There is much evidence that shows how CVD has turned into an epidemic, triggered by lifestyle factors like a lack of exercise, smoking and poor diet. Medicine alone cannot treat this epidemic, the experts say. Much talk at the summit focused on what steps the EU and national governments should take to respond to this evidence. The experts believe this problem cannot be addressed if guidelines, clinical practice and public health policies are not fully aligned from the outset. In his speech to the summit, Lars Rydén, Professor Emeritus of Cardiology at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, Sweden, and a former ESC president, pointed out that complex and sensitive issues have to be debated and radical measures proposed. 'There are no new medical techniques that can control the CVD epidemic,' Professor Rydén said. 'The ESC has consistently presented data to governments and institutions to illustrate the urgency of the situation. We now look to the EU and other bodies to move beyond data, reports and abstract plans into a far-reaching legislative programme that ensures public health.' Professor Ian Graham of Trinity College, Dublin in Ireland, who organised the event on behalf of the ESC's European Association for Cardiovascular Prevention and Rehabilitation (EACPR), noted that while it is an enormous challenge from both a political and regulatory perspective, action is needed. 'It is shocking that the vast majority of the 4 million or so deaths in Europe each year from CVD can be attributed to lifestyle issues rather than underlying medical conditions,' Professor Graham underlined. 'We are ready to support the EU and other public bodies in any way we can to take bold action.' For his part, Dr Lars Moller of the World Health Organization (WHO) Regional Office for Europe said a more policy-oriented approach is needed since public awareness and education campaigns have failed to pass muster. 'The WHO is now in the process of drafting action plans on alcohol and on non-communicable diseases for implementing adopted strategies,' he said. 'Such plans give guidance to member states on evidence-based policy measures for decreasing the burden of CVD and other non-communicable diseases. This can include subsidies to favour healthy diet choices, increasing taxation, limiting availability of alcohol and tobacco, and promoting the benefits of exercise more widely.' In his address to the summit, Cristian Busoi, a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) and member of the MEP Heart Group, highlighted how steps need to be taken in relation to lifestyle factors that cause CVD. 'We have seen that cardiovascular diseases are a serious threat to public health,' he stated. 'There is evidence that urgent action is need to prevent such diseases. It is time to do something more than just talking about it. The EU, as well as national authorities, needs to take concrete steps in this direction and promote healthy lifestyles through all the relevant policies in a coordinated manner, so that the measures have the utmost level of effectiveness.' ESC member countries are already adopting the 'European Heart Health Charter' (EHHC) and implementing the Fourth Joint Task Force (JTF) Guidelines. The EHHC was developed by the ESC and the European Heart Network, in collaboration with the European Commission and the WHO Regional Office for Europe, to prevent CVD in Europe.
Countries
France, Ireland, Sweden