Prevention of ischemic heart disease

| How to prevent ischemic heart disease? Controlling the main risk factors can reduce the number of patients and deaths from this pathology.

The risk factors for ischemic heart disease are very diverse, and are generically divided into two groups: modifiable or non-modifiable.

Non-modifiable risk factors for ischemic heart disease are the patient's age, gender, and genetics.

Modifiable risk factors are those circumstances that can lead to the appearance of the disease and whose existence depends on the patient himself. In these risk factors, the style and lifestyle of the patient himself are important for their reduction. They are divided into two large groups, according to their impact on the development of the disease, differentiating between major and minor risk factors.

Major modifiable risk factors for ischemic heart disease are:

• Poorly controlled arterial hypertension: changes that occur in the arterial wall due to the existence of excessive blood pressure prolonged over time favor the reduction of the lumen of the vessel and hinder the passage of blood through it, making it difficult to supply oxygen to tissues. In the case of the heart, an ischemia will appear with slight or moderate increases in demand, which can manifest as angina or myocardial infarction. For this reason, strict control of blood pressure in the short, medium and long term is considered of great importance, even in very advanced ages of life.
• Poorly controlled diabetes mellitus: the increase in the amount of circulating glucose in the blood favors the appearance of changes in the arterial wall in a sense similar to that of arterial hypertension, producing similar final effects. The risk increases exponentially if both risk factors are present. Thus, the control of blood glucose levels in patients with diabetes is essential to avoid the onset of ischemic heart disease at all ages.
• Poorly controlled dyslipidemia: consists of the alteration of fat concentrations in the blood (especially total cholesterol, its derivatives and triglycerides). The deposit of these components on the wall of the arterial vessels also causes the gradual narrowing of their lumen, in the same sense as arterial hypertension or the changes caused by poor control of diabetes. Thus, following a healthy diet low in saturated fat and refined sugars will be of great importance in the prevention of ischemic heart disease.
• smoking: smoking increases the risk of suffering from ischemic heart disease and is considered to counteract the effectiveness of treatments against this disease. Thus, total smoking cessation, even in advanced ages, results in a decrease in the occurrence of ischemic heart disease in patients of all ages.

Minor modifiable risk factors for ischemic heart disease include:

• Control of obesity and reduction of overweight.
• Carrying out regular physical exercise (at least three weekly sessions of about 4 minutes) and avoiding sedentary life.
• Consumption of a healthy diet (Mediterranean diet), rich in vitamin C, carotenes, fruits and vegetables, with a variety of foods and reducing the intake of saturated fats (of animal origin) and increasing the proportion of unsaturated fats (of vegetable origin).
• Control and reduction of stress.

DID YOU KNOW…

Risk factors for ischemic heart disease are often associated with each other, resulting in potentiation of their effects. Carrying out health checks that can detect the presence of high blood pressure, diabetes mellitus, dyslipidemia, smoking and aimed at controlling the major and minor risk factors for the disease will be essential to carry out a correct primary and secondary prevention of the disease.