Warning from the specialist: You can calculate the risk of heart attack and take precautions!
Indicating that the country of residence is an important data in determining the risk of heart attack, Öğr. Member. Prof. Dr. Özlem Esen said, “Our country is among the risky countries with the statistical evaluation made by the European Society of Cardiology. We then add gender and age to the assessment. Being a man aged 45 and over increases the risk 2-2.5 times. “Being a smoker, having high blood pressure and cholesterol values increases the risk exponentially.”
Note that the value found at the end of the risk calculations reveals the risk of death as a result of a heart attack within 10 years. Dr. Esen said the following:
“For example, among our patients, a 56-year-old male patient who has been smoking for 20 years had a blood pressure of 140/90 mmHg and a total cholesterol of 266 mg / dL.
He is not very mobile and suffers from stress at work. No family member has ever had a heart attack. The risk of heart attack of our patient is 11 percent, so why is it important to know this? This figure gives us the information that in the next 10 years, one in 10 people with similar characteristics may die of a heart attack. “
“RISK CAN BE REDUCED UP TO HALF”
Noting that patients can reduce the risk of heart attack up to 4 percent if they follow all the recommendations and reach the determined goals. Dr. Özlem Esen said, “Although the precautions are determined with personalized approaches, some of them are universal. Quitting smoking, walking for at least 30 minutes at least 5 days a week, bringing cholesterol and blood pressure values to ideal values.
Appropriate drug treatments also help to reach target values. The use of cholesterol-lowering ‘statin’ group drugs and ‘ACE’ inhibitor type drugs, which are known to prevent heart attacks, are the main ones. Of course, it is necessary to help our patients to reduce mental stress and especially workplace stress ”.
ARE THERE ANY RISKS THAT CANNOT BE CHANGED?
Stating that familial heart disease is a genetic and unchangeable risk and it should prompt the person to take precautions earlier, Prof. Dr. Özlem Esen said, “A diagnosis of heart attack or arteriosclerosis before the age of 65 in women and 55 in men is considered a risk. He warned that if you have such a relative in the family, heart checks should be started earlier.
Saying that diabetics are among the people who need to be taken precautions as if they have cardiovascular disease. Dr. Özlem Esen stated that being under chronic stress causes damage to the vascular wall and increases the risk of heart attack even more.
Stating that sudden outbursts of anger can also cause a crisis by increasing the risk of coagulation in the heart vessel, Prof. Dr. Özlem Esen said, “In a study conducted in the USA, the risk of heart attack increases 5 times in the 2 hours following an outburst, while the risk of stroke increases 3 times. When all these risks are managed, it will be very important to remember that cardiovascular disease is an 80 percent preventable disease ”.
