Experts call for public awareness on heart health

Chinese top medical experts call for more attention to deal with the rising threat of cardiovascular and cerebrovascular disease in Beijing on Sept 29, the World Heart Day.

It is critical to conduct risk stratification (a formal estimate of the probability of a person's succumbing to a disease or benefiting from a treatment for that disease), and to screen out high-risk population, experts said during a health education event jointly held by People’s Daily, Life Times, and several medicine associations.

According to government statistics, averagely every 10 seconds there is one Chinese dying of cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases, and the diseases cause about 3.5 million deaths in China annually.

But the public is not quite aware of the threat, and it makes the situation worse that medical resources are not distributed reasonably in the country, according to Huo Yong, director with cardiology department of Peking University First Hospital.

Huo suggests educating the public on cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases control and prevention to raise people's awareness of the threat, as well as to promote risk factor screening and risk stratification.

An ongoing risk-screening program started in May 2015 and has demonstrated the urgent need for risk stratification and follow-up health management, according to Sun Ningling, deputy director of cardiology center of Peking University People's Hospital.

Smoking, family history, diabetes, high cholesterol, high blood pressure and obesity, are risk factors for cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases.

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