The cardiologist can prolong life. “Being followed by a cardiologist can significantly improve the risk profile and reduce the likelihood of ischemic relapses, such as heart attack or stroke. Cardiologists can make a difference by improving the clinical fate of patients.” This is the result of the ‘Bring-up Prevention’ study presented at the 55th national Cardiology congress of Anmco, the National Association of hospital cardiologists, underway in Rimini. “The ‘Bring-up Prevention’ – explains Furio Colivicchi, past president of Anmco and director of clinical and rehabilitation cardiology at the San Filippo Neri Hospital in Rome – has so far included 4,790 patients from 189 cardiology centers distributed throughout the national territory. Yes these are patients with a history of previous heart attack or coronary heart disease or obstructive disease of the lower limbs or cerebrovascular disease. From a preliminary analysis of the data collected, the average age of this population is 67 years and 20% are female alarming are those related to the prevalence of obesity, 20% of these patients are obese, and cigarette smoking, in fact 21% are smokers”.
“In general, a significant percentage of patients, despite having a previous diagnosis of cardiovascular disease, do not have optimal management of risk factors, such as obesity and cigarette smoking. We can therefore improve the management of this patient population – warns Colivicchi – Fundamental for this purpose is awareness of the risk of new events such as heart attack and stroke attributable to smoking, arterial hypertension, hypercholesterolemia and obesity. Furthermore, 27% of the patients included in the ‘Bring-up Prevention’ study are diabetics and in 11% of cases they have chronic kidney disease. Although it is known that cholesterol is the causal factor of atherosclerotic diseases, statins, the first line treatment for these patients, were initially used in only 68% of patients before the cardiological visit. After the cardiological check-up the percentage rose to 98%. This variation is an expression of the fact that being followed by a cardiologist can significantly improve the risk profile and reduce the probability of ischemic recurrences, such as heart attack or stroke.”
“Cardiologists can therefore make a difference, improving the clinical fate of patients. Further valuable information will then be provided by a detailed analysis of the overall therapeutic management of this patient population, which will be available at the conclusion of the study”, concludes Colivicchi.
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