The disease that kills more Vietnamese than cancer

According to Vietnamnet • September 17, 2023 06:20

According to statistics, each year in Vietnam about 82,000 people die from cancer, while according to the Ministry of Health, cardiovascular disease takes the lives of 200,000 people.

That was the sharing of Associate Professor, Dr. Pham Manh Hung, Director of the Vietnam Heart Institute at the community reality program responding to World Heart Day co-organized by the Vietnam National Cardiology Association in Thai Binh on September 16.

According to Associate Professor Hung, cardiovascular disease has become the leading cause of death and disability. According to the Global Burden of Disease 2022 report, cardiovascular disease (including stroke) claimed 19.5 million lives.

"The number of deaths due to cardiovascular disease is greater than the combined number of the three subsequent causes of death, such as cancer, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and diabetes," said Associate Professor Dr. Pham Manh Hung. Another worrying fact is that the mortality rate due to cardiovascular disease is increasing in low- and lower-middle-income countries (accounting for up to 75%).

In Vietnam, according to statistics from the Ministry of Health, each year about 200,000 people die from cardiovascular disease, accounting for 33% of all deaths. Meanwhile, about 82,000 Vietnamese people die from cancer each year.

*Walking 10,000 steps a day brings many benefits to cardiovascular health*

According to the expert, lifestyle greatly affects cardiovascular disease, in addition to other factors such as family, race, high blood pressure, lipid disorders, diabetes, etc. Among them, there are bad habits such as lack of exercise, smoking, excessive alcohol consumption, unhealthy diet, environmental pollution, stress and lack of knowledge or subjectivity in disease prevention.

Since 2000, the World Heart Federation, in collaboration with the World Health Organization (WHO) and UNESCO, has chosen September 29 every year as World Heart Day. This year, the theme of World Heart Day is "Use heart, know heart", emphasizing that each person should be self-aware and take care of their own heart as the best way to reduce cardiovascular events.

"Seemingly simple actions such as propaganda and guidance for people not to smoke, eat less salty foods, not eat too much animal fat, limit alcohol consumption, exercise, walk 10,000 steps a day... can help prevent at least 80% of premature deaths due to cardiovascular disease," Associate Professor Hung shared.

According to information from the Vietnam Heart Institute, cardiovascular diseases are often thought to only occur in the elderly. However, in reality, the frequency of the disease in young and middle-aged people is higher. This disease can occur to anyone, at any age. In particular, young people often think that they are not at risk of the disease, so they are often subjective and do not have reasonable preventive measures, creating a great burden for the patient, family, and society.

According to Vietnamnet