80% of Heart Attack Victims Take It as a “Wake-up Call”, but . . .
Thu, September 10, 2009 at 02:00AM The struggle to get people to improve their lifestyles is a tough one. Time and again, well-designed clinical studies have shown that lifestyle improvements can significantly improve mortality rates in those willing to adapt them. The trouble is, many people find that making a relevant change is too difficult.
This is borne out by a survey conducted in Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Mexico, and the UK. It was conducted by GfK Roper on behalf of the World Heart Federation, and the results were discussed at the European Society of Cardiology. Over 3,000 adults aged 40 or older who had suffered a heart attack or another serious heart condition (e.g. angina) were polled.
Almost half the respondents worried about suffering a heart attack in the future. 80% of them felt that their heart problem was a “wake-up call” to practice a healthier lifestyle in the future. However, almost half of them felt that there was little they could actually do to reduce their risk of a heart attack, and many failed to adapt a heart-healthy lifestyle.
These disappointing results have stimulated the World Heart Federation to launch a public education initiative – Your Heart: New Start. It’s aim is to catch patients at two important time points – just before they leave hospital and at their first follow-up appointment with their doctor – and provide them with practical information on improving nutrition, fitness, managing stress, and sticking to their medication regime. Initially, coronary stent patients will be selected for this approach. The initiative is partially supported by Eli Lilly and Daiichi Sankyo, two major pharmacological companies.
I hope the rather dismal survey responses of heart attack patients wouldn’t be repeated if the survey were done in the USA, but I greatly fear they would be. I can only emphasize the importance of starting on a healthy lifestyle before the first heart attack, angina, or stroke . . .
Reader Comments (2)
Dear Sir,
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Dear Nirmal:
Thank you for your comment. One way to express your healthcare views on Health-andAge.org would be for you to “comment” on the daily articles, as they appear. However, that will not reach millions of people – only the few hundreds of readers of the blog. It might be better for you to start your own blog; then you can write as often as you want, when you want, on subjects you choose.
Starting a blog is easy. SquareSpace gives me a lot of freedom to write what and when I want, and costs comparatively little. In addition to writing new content, you can have fun designing your site, and trying different ways to increase readership. And you can cover your costs, if you’re lucky, by accepting ads from, say, Google. Good luck!
Bob Griffith