Patients with high risk of stroke and heart attack 'ignoring ... - Daily Mail
Patients with high risk of stroke and heart attack 'ignoring ... - Daily Mail
More than three-quarters are obese or overweight, with dangerously big stomachs, and most smokers have refused to give up. More than half have out-of-control blood pressure and 40 per cent have high cholesterol levels. Two out of three refuse to accept they are more at risk than other people their age - despite being given warnings and prescription drugs by their GP. The findings from a major European survey were released today at the European Society for Cardiology congress in Munich. Around one in three middle-aged Britons is at high risk of heart disease because of factors such as obesity, diabetes, family history, high cholesterol and blood pressure levels. This means they have a one in five chance of suffering a fatal heart attack unless they change their lifestyle. The new survey of 12 countries looked in detail at 381 patients in the UK, who had been diagnosed as 'high risk' at least six months earlier by their GPs. In many cases they were taking medication as a result. Almost 80 per cent of those who were smokers at the time had not given up despite smoking being a major cause of heart disease. Altogether 82 per cent of high risk patients were overweight or obese - half of whom were so fat it threatens their health. Four out of five had a dangerously large waist circumference, indicating deposits of abdominal fat that raise the chances of diabetes and heart problems. The EUROASPIRE survey showed about two out of five patients said they did not take regular exercise and had no plans to do so. Around half had diabetes, including seven per cent whose condition was detected when they were taking part in the survey and having various tests. In total, 57 per cent of patients had raised blood pressure despite three-quarters of them being on antihypertensive drugs. At least 40 per cent of patients had high blood cholesterol, even though the UK uses more statin drugs – which reduce cholesterol - than any other European country except Italy. Three out of four of those agreed, when they were asked whether everyone should know of their heart disease risk, compared with just 21 per cent in Bulgaria. But there was an alarming level of ignorance among British patients about their state of health. Altogether two-thirds said they did not think their risk of heart disease was higher than a person in the general population of the same age and sex, including 16 per cent who thought it was lower. Just 33 per cent believed it was higher - as their doctors had told them. Professor David Wood, an expert in cardiovascular medicine at the National Heart and Lung Institute, Imperial College, London, said the survey raised concerns that many Britons were in denial about their heart health. He said 'These figures are quite shocking. They should be managed much more rigorously and their lifestyle should be changing. He said European research showed that nurse-led programmes in GP surgeries were the best way to help high-risk heart patients change their lifestyle - and that of their partners. Four out of five families ate more fruit and vegetables when nurses got involved, and the number doing physical activity doubled, he said. The survey used trained technicians to question 381 patients who had been told they were at high risk of heart disease before developing any symptoms. They were prescribed drugs or being treated with dietary advice. The fact that so few smokers had quit goes against the national trend, with more people giving up since the ban on smoking in public. However, many of these patients in their 40s, 50s and 60s will have been smokers for decades. Print this article Read later Email to a friendShare this article: Digg it|Del.icio.us|Reddit|Newsvine|Nowpublic|Facebook|MySpace|FarkDM.has("readerComments");DM.has("debate");Add your commentsView allComments (0)No comments have so far been submitted.
0 comments:
Post a Comment