The term ‘cardiovascular disease’ (CVD) refers to any disease of the heart, vascular disease of the brain, or disease of the blood vessel. Created by the World Heart Federation(WHF), World Heart Day informs people around the globe that CVD, including heart disease and stroke, is the world’s leading cause of death, and highlights the actions that individuals can take to prevent and control CVD. It aims to drive action to educate people that by controlling risk factors such as tobacco use, unhealthy diet and physical inactivity, at least 80% of premature deaths from heart disease and stroke could be avoided. More people die from CVDs worldwide than from any other cause: over 17.9 million every year, according to the World Health Organization. Of these deaths, 80% are due to coronary heart diseases (e.g heart attack) and cerebrovascular diseases (e.g strokes) and mostly affect low- and middle-income countries.
Did you know that your heart is the size of your fist and the strongest muscle in your body? It started beating about three weeks after you were conceived. If you live to be 70, it will have beaten two and a half billion times. However, although impressive and strong, your heart can also become vulnerable from habitual risk factors like smoking, eating an unhealthy diet or putting it under stress. Controlling these key risk factors and monitoring your blood pressure regularly may reduce an individual’s risk of CVD. The system can also be weakened from a pre-existing heart condition and other physiological factors, including hypertension or high blood cholesterol.
A series of new studies published in The Lancet and its associated journals have revealed that India has also witnessed an alarming rise in the occurrence of heart disease and stroke in the past 25 years. The prevalence of heart disease and stroke has increased by over 50% from 1990 to 2016 in India, with an increase observed in every state. The contribution of these diseases to total deaths and disease burden in the country has almost doubled in the past 25 years. Heart disease now is the leading individual cause of disease burden in India, and stroke is the fifth leading cause. Heart disease and stroke together contributed to 28·1% of total deaths in India in 2016 —compared with 15·2% in 1990. Deaths due to cardiovascular diseases rose from 13 lakh in 1990 to 28 lakh in 2016. The number of prevalent cases of cardiovascular diseases has increased from 2.57 crore in 1990 to 5.45 crore in 2016. More than half of the total cardiovascular disease deaths in India in 2016 were in people younger than 70 years. According to ICMR data Prevalence of Ischemic heart disease in urban and rural Indian populations is 5.7% and 2.1% respectively. Premature mortality in terms of years of life lost because of CVD in India increased by 59%, from 23.2 million (1990) to 37 million (2010). Despite wide heterogeneity in the prevalence of cardiovascular risk factors across different regions, CVD has emerged as the leading cause of death in all parts of India, including poorer states and rural areas. The progression of the epidemic is characterized by the reversal of socioeconomic gradients; tobacco use and low fruit and vegetable intake have become more prevalent among those from lower socioeconomic backgrounds. In addition, individuals from lower socioeconomic backgrounds frequently do not receive optimal therapy, leading to poorer outcomes.
This year on World Heart Day, as part of it’s mission to ensure heart health equity for all, WHF wants to create a global community of Heart Heroes … people from all walks of life who are acting now to live longer, better, heart-healthy lives by making a promise:
- A promise to our families to cook and eat more healthily
- A promise to our children to exercise more and help them to be more active, to say no to smoking and help our loved ones to stop
- A promise as a healthcare professional to help patients give up smoking and lower their cholesterol
- A promise as a policymaker to support policies that promote healthy hearts
- A promise as an employee to invest in heart-healthy workplaces
A simple promise… for MY HEART, for YOUR HEART, for ALL OUR HEARTS.