European Heart Patients Drug Reliance Fails to Growth Health
Researchers surveyed more than 8,500 people in eight European countries during the past dozen years to see whether efforts to prevent future complications in heart patients were succeeding. The results, they said, were a disappointment.
The number of smokers among people who survived open heart surgery, heart attacks and procedures to clear clogged arteries remained constant during the 12-year span of the surveys known as EuroAspire, and increased among women under age 50. Obesity rates rose, diabetes doubled and high blood pressure failed to fall, though more than 95 percent of patients were getting drug treatment in most areas, the study found.
“The results of the EuroAspire surveys should be a cause of concern to all health policy makers, physicians and other health-care professionals responsible for the care of patients with coronary heart disease,” researchers led by David Wood at Imperial College London wrote. “Lifestyle trends, especially the increase in smoking in younger female patients, and the substantial increase in obesity in every country in the survey indicate a need for better preventive cardiology programs.”
Heart disease is a leading cause of death and disability in Europe, responsible for 2 million deaths across the continent each year, according to the World Health Organization. Less than one-third of patients who survive a heart attack or other cardiac complication have access to rehabilitation programs, and the gap between what patients should do and their actual activities is growing, researchers said.
“The situation has not improved a lot and some parameters have become worse,” said Mette Brekke, an associate professor and general practitioner at the University of Oslo, in a telephone interview. “How do you make people take care of themselves? This is the $1 million question. We need to intensively care for people who have had a heart event.”
The one bright spot in the survey was a drop in cholesterol levels, following near universal treatment with medicines including Pfizer Inc.s Lipitor and AstraZeneca Plcs Crestor. Still, drug therapy alone wont be enough, said Brekke, who wrote a commentary that accompanied the study.
“We have to be equally eager to provide the lifestyle advice,” she said. “It seems so difficult just for people to stop smoking or become physically active just after hearing it from a doctor. They need treatment programs.”