200,000 Vietnamese people die from cardiovascular disease every year

"Statistics around the world show that Covid-19 is the third leading cause of death, while cardiovascular disease is still the leading cause of death," Associate Professor, Dr. Pham Manh Hung - Director of the National Heart Institute said at the response meeting.DayWorld Heart,morning of 9/24

Every year, cardiovascular diseases, including stroke, are the leading cause of death, claiming 17.9 million lives. In Vietnam, about 200,000 people die from this disease each year, accounting for 33% of all deaths. Among cardiovascular diseases, coronary artery disease and stroke are the leading causes of death or disability.

According to statistics from the Heart Institute, the rate of high blood pressure in adults is 25%, one in four adults has high blood pressure. High blood pressure increases the risk of death from stroke by 4 times and the risk of death from cardiovascular disease by 3 times, compared to people without the disease.

According to Mr. Hung, cardiovascular disease is often thought to only occur in older people. But in reality, "the frequency of the disease in young and middle-aged people is higher than we think". It can happen to anyone, at any age, and the age of new cases is getting younger and younger.

"Young people often think they are not at risk of getting the disease, so they are subjective and do not take appropriate preventive measures. This is a big burden for the patient, their family and the whole society," said Mr. Hung.

500 Bac Ninh residents were screened for cardiovascular disease on September 24. Photo:Tran Hai

Experts say that industrial lifestyle, environmental pollution, overweight, obesity... have caused people to face non-communicable diseases, endocrine diseases, cancer and especially cardiovascular diseases.

Among them, the common reasons for the increase in cardiovascular diseases in young people are alcohol abuse; smoking (both active and passive); lack of exercise; overweight, history of diabetes, high blood pressure; staying up late, stress...

For the people, experts give 8 tips to have a healthy heart, including: Control weight, lose weight (if overweight). Do not smoke cigarettes or tobacco. Do not eat a lot of animal fat. Do not eat salty foods (reduce salt in your diet, less than 6 grams of salt/day). Practice walking 10,000 steps a day. Limit alcohol and beer consumption. Avoid anxiety and stress, create a peaceful and happy life for yourself. Check your blood pressure regularly. Check other risk factors periodically (blood sugar disorders, blood lipids...) to be able to control risk factors promptly.