Arq. Bras. Cardiol. 2017; 109(6): 507-508
Potential of Family Health Strategy Against Cardiovascular Disease
DOI: 10.5935/abc.20170187
Introduction
It is estimated that one out of three adults in the United States of America (USA) has one type of cardiovascular disease (CVD), acute myocardial infarction (AMI) being the major condition. In the USA, more than one million individuals per year are estimated to experience AMI. In Brazil, in 2011, 384,615 deaths were attributed to CVD. In 2010, the American Heart Association recommended the assessment of seven metrics related to cardiovascular health (CVH), which could have a great impact on the CVD control. According to the patient adherence to the seven metrics or their control, those metrics (smoking cessation, balanced healthy diet, physical activity practice, and control of body mass, blood pressure, cholesterol and glycemia) were classified as “ideal”, “intermediate” and “poor”, and the goal is to reduce by 20% the deaths from CVD in the USA by 2020.
Several countries have met that recommendation to assess the CVH of their populations. In China, individuals with “ideal” CVH had general mortality 30% lower than that of individuals with “poor” CVH. Regarding mortality from CVD specifically, there was a 39% reduction. In South Korea, the reduction was of 58% for all-cause mortality, and of 90% for mortality from CVD. In Brazil, based on data from the 2013 National Health Survey, only 1% of the Brazilian population reached an “ideal” level regarding the seven metrics. When the metrics were considered in isolation, only 3.2% of that population had an “ideal” diet, 23.6% of that population had an “ideal” physical activity practice, and 43.7% of that population had an “ideal” body mass index (BMI). Women had a higher prevalence of “ideal” levels regarding smoking (89.5%). Better levels of blood pressure (77.7%) and total cholesterol (87.3%) were found among men.
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