Time to tackle heart disease, expert warns

Epidemic expected to worsen as key risk factors become more common

China will see "explosive" growth in the prevalence of cardiovascular diseases in the next three decades if effective prevention measures are not implemented in time to tackle the No 1 killer of Chinese people, a top cardiologist said recently.

Hu Shengshou, director of the National Center for Cardiovascular Diseases and an academician at the Chinese Academy of Engineering, said although the mortality rate for those with heart and blood vessel conditions is on the decline thanks to medical advances, the number of newly diagnosed patients has been rising at a worrisome pace for years.

"As the total population of China is growing and aging, it is estimated that from 2010 to 2030, the annual incidence of cardiovascular diseases for people between 35 to 84 years old will jump by 50 percent," he said at China Heart Congress 2019, which was held in Shenzhen, Guangdong province, in early November.

The epidemic is expected to worsen given that an increasing number of people are suffering high blood pressure, abnormal cholesterol levels and diabetes. These conditions, along with being overweight or obese and smoking, are considered the five key risk factors that can cause deadly or paralyzing cardiovascular events.

Currently, about 245 million people in China suffer high blood pressure; 200 million report abnormal lipid levels; 240 million are overweight or obese; 300 million smoke; and 90 million live with diabetes, according to Hu.

"Prevalence of such conditions is projected to result in another 23 percent increase in cardiovascular events annually," he said.

More people have adopted unhealthy lifestyle behaviors that could lead to the development of cardiovascular conditions, including tobacco use, physical inactivity and high-salt intake.

For instance, from 1991 to 2011, levels of physical activity had fallen by 44 percent for men and 36 percent for women, Hu said.

The worsening trend has placed China in a tough battle against the widespread but preventable and curable diseases.

Currently, there are about 290 million people with cardiovascular conditions in China, and two in five deaths in the country are caused by such diseases, ranking first among all illness categories, according to a report released by the center in June.

A health promotion plan released by the State Council in June said China aims to reduce the mortality rate of cardiovascular diseases to 209.7 per 100,000 people by 2022 and to 190.7 per 100,000 by 2030. The number stood at about 238 per 100,000 in 2015.

Hu has called for awareness of cardiovascular diseases to be boosted and for intervention measures to be implemented so that high risk factors can be diagnosed and controlled in a timely manner.

"Grassroots health institutions will play a crucial role in the process," he said. "We are actively connecting larger hospitals with community clinics through online platforms, as well as launching training programs and deploying intelligent tools to help grassroots health workers improve the precision of their diagnoses and prescriptions."

Zheng Zhe, deputy director of the center, also stressed the significance of early detection of risk factors at a recent news conference.

"Adults are encouraged to measure their blood pressure, cholesterol and lipid levels regularly, and people who are over 40 years old or under great pressure at work should conduct such examinations more frequently," he said.

The health promotion plan additionally called for providing lifestyle guidance targeting patients and people who are at high risk of falling ill due to heart and blood vessel conditions.

Wang Zengwu, a physician with the Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences' Fuwai Hospital, said the control rate of high blood pressure in China has increased in recent years to about 15 percent.

"The ratio is expected to reach 30 to 50 percent if we can keep good momentum," he said.

"While health workers in community clinics are supposed to learn more about how to prevent and control high blood pressure, patients are also encouraged to collaborate with grassroots workers and be more active in their own care."