the estimate of the Italian Society of Geriatric Cardiology based on the results of a study. Cardiovascular diseases are the first cause of death in Italy, but there are no structured screening programs such as the oncological ones included in the Lea
The cardiovascular diseases I’m there first cause of death in Western countries, including ours. There early diagnosis remains a fundamental tool for protecting heart health and counteracting the onset and progression of these pathologies, as it allows guarantee promptly to patients necessary care, q
hence of avoid
disabling outcomeswithin a few years, or even death. According to the estimates of Italian Society of Geriatric Cardiology (SICGe), based on the PREVASC study (prevalence of cardiovascular diseases), 150,000 deaths a year could be avoided
if they were adopted
structured screening programs
such as oncology for the early diagnosis of three types of cancer – cervix, breast and colorectal – ,
guaranteed free within the Essential levels of assistance (Lea), i.e. the services that the National Health Service must ensure to all citizens, regardless of their place of residence. From here the‘appeal to the institutions by doctors and experts, during a meeting in the Chamber of Deputies, so that they are guaranteed at least to the elderly population over 65 life-saving heart screeningas for tumors.
I study
The PREVASC study, conducted by SICGe and aimed at identifying the prevalence and severity of heart disease widespread among the elderly, such as atrial fibrillation, heart failure, valve disease, involved approximately 1,200 people over 65 in ten heart villages – small towns with less of three thousand inhabitants of various Italian regions – who underwent a cardiological examination and an electrocardiogram (ECG) followed, in the event of anomalies, by an echocardiogram.
Well, the study highlights the presence of cardiovascular risk factors that were ignored by subjects who participated in the screeningsfor which they were not treated. In particular, out of 1,200 people examined, more than 8 out of 10 suffer from hypertension (but did not know it), 19 percent from diabetes, 56 percent from dyslipidemia, therefore have alterations in the amount of fat in the blood (triglycerides and cholesterol ). In addition, nearly one in three older adults had aortic valve abnormalities, and 34 percent had valve abnormalities. mitral valve.
Prevention saves quality and duration of life
Comments Niccol Marchionni, president of the Italian Society of Geriatric Cardiology: All of these new diagnoses with silent symptoms and risk factors, for which the elderly examined were not on treatment, would have generated clinically relevant cardiac pathologies in the following years.
The study demonstrates once more that screening activities targeted they do emergence of latent pathologies. Prevention fundamental for safeguard quality and duration of life of the elderly population underlines Marchionni. Adds Alessandro Boccanelli, vice president of SICGe and coordinator of the PREVASC study: Cardiological screening easily adoptable. For a timely diagnosis of cardiovascular diseases you can auscultating the heart with a stethoscope and, in case a suspect is identified, proceed to subsequent simpler tests such as a electrocardiogram or more in-depth, such as a echocardiogram. Unfortunately – underlines Boccanelli – this practice not included in the controls performed in the normal medical routine. Yet, as well as being the leading cause of death and among the main causes of disability, as Fulvio Colivicchi, past-president of the National Association of Hospital Cardiologists (ANMCO) and vice-president of the Italian Federation of Medical Societies (FISM) recalls, cardiovascular diseases are also the first cause of hospitalization and access to outpatient clinics.
The commitment of the institutions
The data of the study push the legislator to consider the cardiological screening of the elderly as an opportunity to save lives and make active aging an effective reality, he said during the meeting chairman of the Social Affairs Commission of the Chamber, the honorable Hugh Cappellacci
who is committed to embarking on a journey with cardiology scientific societies in order to r
end structural pathways for the prevention of heart disease in a context of sustainability for the National Health Service, since resources are not infinite.
But it cardiology screening for the population over 65 years old will be enteredLike cancer screenings, in the essential levels of assistance? Mr Cappellacci replies: If the result is to protect people’s lives, improve their quality of life and also achieve savings, ultimately, for the Health Service, there is no reason not to go in this direction. The deputy echoed him Annarita Patriarchmember of the Social Affairs Commission: With my colleagues in the Chamber I will commit myself to provide concrete answers and structured on the needs highlighted in terms of prevention of heart disease in the elderly; in this perspective the community screening they are a strategy to be studied in depth to avoid deaths and try to guarantee peaceful aging for the over 65s.
July 5, 2023 (change July 5, 2023 | 09:36)
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