Vietnamese people die from cardiovascular disease twice as often as from cancer

The information was announced by Prof. Dr. Nguyen Lan Viet, Permanent Vice President of Vietnam Cardiovascular Association, at a press conference.27th Southeast Asian Congress of Cardiology, November 3.

The Global Burden of Disease 2022 report shows that cardiovascular disease has become the leading cause of death in the world, claiming 19.5 million lives each year. Vietnam is no exception. According to statistics from the Ministry of Health, about 200,000 Vietnamese people die from cardiovascular disease each year, accounting for 33% of deaths, higher than the number of deaths from cancer.

One of the reasons why this disease has become a "medical burden" is that people have not been proactive in preventing cardiovascular disease. For example, many people do not clearly understand the risk factors of the disease, and are not aware of adjusting their lifestyles such as eating, living, resting, and exercising. Regular health check-ups are also not given attention.

Cardiovascular disease is often thought to only occur in older people. However, in reality, the incidence of the disease in young and middle-aged people is increasing. Young people often think that they are not at risk of the disease, so they are subjective and do not take appropriate preventive measures.

In addition, as the number of elderly people increases, cardiovascular diseases, especially atherosclerosis, also increase, posing a challenge to the cardiovascular industry.

On the other hand, according to Associate Professor, Dr. Pham Manh Hung, Director of the Vietnam Heart Institute, cardiovascular diseases are also related to risk factors including family, race, high blood pressure, lipid disorders, and diabetes.

According to statistics from the Heart Institute from 2000 to 2015, the rate of high blood pressure in adults increased by about 1% per year and has reached 25%, one in four adults has high blood pressure. High blood pressure increases the risk of death from stroke by 4 times and increases the risk of death from cardiovascular disease by 3 times compared to people without the disease.

Finally, lifestyle risk factors such as physical inactivity, smoking, excessive alcohol consumption, unhealthy diet, environmental pollution, stress, etc. also increase cardiovascular disease.

According to Mr. Hung, experience from developed countries as well as scientific achievements show that most cardiovascular diseases can be prevented and cured proactively. Not smoking, reducing salt intake, not consuming too much animal fat, limiting alcohol consumption, exercising daily... can help prevent 80% of premature deaths from cardiovascular diseases.

At the press conference, Professor Viet also assessed that Vietnam has now mastered most of the advanced techniques in cardiovascular diseases on par with other countries. Previously, many patients had to go abroad for treatment, but now people have the opportunity to access advanced scientific achievements right on the spot.

For example, recently, the Cardiovascular Institute became the first facility in Vietnam to successfully treat a complex case of atrial fibrillation using cryotherapy technology. This technique aims to prevent recurrent arrhythmias and restore impaired heart function, helping patients return to normal life and activities. Previously, most people with this disease had to go abroad for treatment.