Heart Disease the Major Killer

Levels of heart disease - the biggest killer in the western world - are unlikely to fall over the next ten years in Europe or the US, according to research findings published by Taylor Nelson Sofres Healthcare (TNSH).

The research study 'CARDIO 2010' reported on interviews with 25 leading heart specialists across Europe, the US and Japan about their predictions for the diagnosis, treatment and management of heart disease over the next decade. The experts concluded that cardiovascular disease is unlikely to decline over the next ten years and that heart failure will increase markedly. As a result, the total treatment costs for heart disease, (including the cost of hospitalisation, drug therapies, follow-up consultations and preventative treatments etc) will increase substantially over the same time period.

The CARDIO 2010 experts also predicted that over the next decade there will be improvements in the early identification of people particularly at risk from cardiovascular disease, and also in the types of drug treatments available. However they concluded that this would not decrease levels of heart disease unless problems related to poor diet and an inactive lifestyle - two key factors affecting the prevalence of heart disease - are addressed.

Furthermore, Government media campaigns in Europe or the US promoting the benefits of healthy eating and an active lifestyle are unlikely to have any noticeable impact on heart disease over the next ten years. This is mainly due to peer-related and commercial pressures, particularly on school children.

Recently, UK doctors have described an alarming increase in obesity amongst young school children and a consequent increase in type II diabetes - a condition that normally affects adults. The direct relationship between obesity and type II diabetes has been established only relatively recently. However, the CARDIO 2010 experts that commented on the link all highlighted the fact 'the obese child becomes the obese adult' and that habits developed in childhood are very difficult to break in adulthood.

As a result, obesity - and therefore type II diabetes - are likely to reach what doctors in the US describe as 'epidemic' proportions in the western world.

Both conditions significantly increase the risk of heart disease, and type II diabetes is associated with a number of other potentially life-threatening conditions such as kidney damage and gangrene.

Philip O'Hagan, Client Service Director, TNSH said 'Obesity-related problems have already reached epidemic proportions in the US and seem to be heading in the same direction in some parts of Europe. The social and commercial pressures in these countries are such that the population is becoming lazier. People are also more likely to eat a diet rich in carbohydrates and fat, fuelling this explosion in obesity and subsequent type II diabetes. As both conditions significantly increase the risk of heart disease - including fatal heart attacks - and health campaigns are likely to have minimal impact on improving either diet or activity, the outlook is very bleak.'

TNS Healthcare intends to track the accuracy of these predictions using CardioMonitor, the world's largest and most comprehensive international cardiovascular patient database. The study - CARDIO 2010 - interviewed an expert panel of 25 leading heart specialists across Europe, USA and Japan on three separate occasions over a 12-month period. CardioMonitor is TNS Healthcare's ongoing international cardiovascular patient tracking study. For the past 10 years CardioMonitor has been used by leading pharmaceutical companies across the world to collect information about patient demographics and treatment across France, Germany, Great Britain, Italy, Japan, Spain and the USA.

All articles 2006-22 written and edited by Mel Crowther and/or Nick Thomas unless otherwise stated.

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