According to the data from the Department of Health, in 2020 alone, heart disease has accounted for 13% of the registered deaths in that year, among which coronary heart disease is the main cause of death, with an average of about 10.5 people dying from coronary heart disease every day. In fact, heart disease has always been one of the three major killers in Hong Kong. If you don’t want to be the next victim, you must understand your risk of cardiovascular disease as early as possible and make advance arrangements. There are many drugs that can prevent it And treatment to delay heart disease.
Heart disease symptoms are easily confused with other diseases
Dr. Li Qiting from Gleneagles Hong Kong Hospital pointed out that in addition to age, gender and family medical history, which cannot be changed, environmental factors that mainly cause cardiovascular diseases are mainly related to high blood pressure, high blood fat, high blood sugar, smoking, obesity, and poor living and eating habits. “The longer the influence of environmental factors, the greater the damage to the cardiovascular system. If you pay attention to it early, you can prevent it before it happens.” Unfortunately, not all patients with heart disease have obvious symptoms. Sometimes even when patients experience symptoms such as chest pain, shortness of breath, sweating, or even angina, they are easily confused with symptoms of other diseases such as lung disease and muscle pain, which makes people take it lightly. , delaying treatment, so Dr. Li reminded the public that once the above symptoms appear, they should seek medical advice as soon as possible and perform a detailed heart examination. Generally speaking, doctors can first detect the patient’s three-high status and cardiac enzyme index through methods such as blood tests, and then cooperate with exercise electrocardiogram, exercise cardiac ultrasound, and cardiac angiography to make a diagnosis as needed to find out the cause, and then assist with appropriate treatment.
Heart disease risk screening predicts disease risk
However, most citizens will not take the initiative to see a doctor for a detailed heart examination before the symptoms of the disease appear. Therefore, if early heart disease risk screening can be implemented, and a simple self-assessment of risk factors through the use of heart disease risk calculators, First calculate the level of your own risk of disease, and then conduct further examination and treatment, so that you can make advance arrangements, effectively prevent cardiovascular diseases, and reduce the chance of disease progression. Dr. Li Qiting pointed out that the medical profession has already launched a variety of heart disease risk calculators, aiming at predicting the risk of different people. Among them, the ASCVD risk calculator of the American Heart Association can predict the risk of cardiovascular disease in the next 10 years by simply inputting risk factors such as age, gender, family medical history, blood pressure, smoking habits, cholesterol, and diabetes.
Improve bad living habits and improve heart health
In fact, to prevent heart disease from attacking, it is best for citizens to start with their daily habits. Dr. Li Qiting pointed out that since heart disease cannot be completely cured, after diagnosis, patients can only rely on drugs, surgery, and improvement of living habits to control the disease. Cultivate good eating habits, control weight, quit smoking and drinking, and maintain 150 minutes of moderate-intensity aerobic exercise every week, etc., to improve the three highs and body weight, and prevent the occurrence of heart disease in the long run.
