World wide study confirms heart disease lipid risk factors
markd_at_toad-net.com
Date: 08/30/04
- Next message: Jeff: "Re: Are we protected from Junk Food Corporations?"
- Previous message: Lictor: "Normal post-prandial triglycerides level?"
- Messages sorted by: [ date ] [ thread ]
Date: 30 Aug 2004 10:48:32 GMT
Cholesterol remains at the top of the risk factors for heart disease,
followed by the metabolic syndrom risk factors and stress as risk factors,
all based in lifestyle and 90 percent preventable:
Global study shows heart disease risks the same all over the world
By EMMA ROSS, AP Medical Writer
(Published August 29' 2004)
MUNICH, Germany (AP) - The causes of heart disease are surprisingly
the same in every region and race, and stress seems to play a more
important role in heart attacks than previously recognized, a major
new study has found.
Nearly all of what is known about the causes of heart disease comes
from studies of white people in rich countries, because that's where
the illness first emerged.
However, with the globe's No. 1 killer now taking over the developing
world as well, scientists have been worried that the way it is tackled
in the West - by combatting smoking, obesity, blood pressure and
cholesterol, among other things - may not necessarily apply in poorer
countries.
"Some 80 percent of the heart disease in the world is in developing
countries, yet 99 percent of the research done into the causes of
heart disease comes from developed countries and largely white,
European populations, so we really don't know for sure whether we can
apply the results of the studies we've got to the rest of the world,"
said the study's leader, Dr. Salim Yousef, a professor of medicine at
McMaster University in Canada, explaining what prompted the study.
The research, presented Sunday at the annual meeting of the European
Society of Cardiology, followed 29,000 people in 52 countries. It took
a decade and 262 scientists to complete the work, which, according to
the editor of The Lancet medical journal, is probably the most robust
study on heart disease risk factors ever conducted.
The scientists, who concluded that about 90 percent of the risk
factors for heart attacks can be prevented, are scheduled to published
the findings in The Lancet next week.
"This study confirms that the risk factors are the same all over the
planet and ... has made it possible to assess the weight of the
different risk factors," said Dr. Jean-Pierre Bassand, president of
the European Society of Cardiology. "It's a fantastic study."
"It is clear that not a single continent, not a single civilization,
not a single race, can be spared from cardiovascular disease, which
will hit humankind more dangerously than the Black Death in the Middle
Ages," said Bassand, who was not connected with the study or the
publication. "What we need is political action."
The study examined 15,000 people who had suffered their first heart
attacks and matched them with someone of the same age, sex and
location who had not had a heart attack.
A bad cholesterol profile, measured using a new test considered better
than the standard one that looks at the balance between good HDL
cholesterol and bad LDL cholesterol, was the most important risk
factor.
Smoking was the next most important player, followed by diabetes, high
blood pressure and a fat belly.
Stress came next, followed by inadequate fruit and vegetable intake,
then lack of exercise. Light to moderate alcohol consumption was found
to be of slight benefit.
Yousef said he was surprised by some of the findings.
"My expectation when I went into this was that I would find ethnic and
regional variations, because some of our earlier papers had suggested
that. It just shows you need massive numbers to get the right answer,"
Yousef said. "I thought smoking would be bad everywhere, but the
(cholesterol) I wasn't sure."
But what was most unexpected, he said, was the power of stress.
"The standard biomedical scientist is really not interested in stress,
partly because they are uncomfortable with the concept, the certain
softness with which you measure it," Yousef said. "I came into this
with a little educated hostility regarding stress, but I've changed my
mind after seeing the data."
The problem is psychological, not physical, stress - things such as
tension at home or at work, financial problems, divorce, losing a
child, or feeling of loss of control.
Most experts believe that about half of the risk of a heart attack can
be prevented. The latest study, however, indicated that about 90
percent of the causes of heart attacks can be averted.
The study indicated that about 50 percent of the chance of having a
heart attack comes from a bad cholesterol profile alone, Yousef said.
"Globally, in urban populations, there's practically nobody with a
level of (cholesterol) that avoids an increased risk of heart
disease," he said.
Smoking is responsible for another 36 percent of the risk, the study
found.
"The impact of these risk factors was the same in every ethnic group
and in every region of the world," Yousef added. "That means
preventive messages can be simple and we can use the same strategy, of
course adjusted for economic and cultural circumstances, in every part
of the world."
The difference between men and women seen in the West was also
observed all over the world. Men usually get heart attacks at about
57, women at 65.
Although that sex difference held true everywhere, the study found
that in southern Asia, the Middle East and Africa, people suffer heart
attacks about 10 years earlier.
The study implies that the main way to tackle the problem is societal
change, including better urban planning and health-promoting food
policies and advertising regulations, experts said.
The study comes on the heels of a World Health Organization vote in
May to implement a global strategy on diet and exercise aimed at
combatting obesity, diabetes, heart disease and other illness linked
to an unhealthy lifestyle.
- Next message: Jeff: "Re: Are we protected from Junk Food Corporations?"
- Previous message: Lictor: "Normal post-prandial triglycerides level?"
- Messages sorted by: [ date ] [ thread ]
Relevant Pages
|
