While the frequency of heart failure has doubled in 10 years, the Heart Alliance is emphasizing prevention.
- In France, more than one million people suffer from heart failure.
- This pathology is the leading cause of adult hospitalization and leads to many deaths.
Junk food, physical inactivity, tobacco… The frequency of heart failure has doubled in 10 years. In France, more than a million people are affected by the pathology, which is the leading cause of hospitalization for adults and leads to numerous deaths (pulmonary embolism, cardiac arrest, etc.).
Quit junk food and tobacco
Heart failure is defined as an inability of the heart to perform its pump function normally, and therefore to meet the body’s oxygen and nutrient needs. The heart can then compensate with:
● faster beats.
● A thickening of the muscle.
● An increase in volume.
“The good news is that if caught in time, the disease can be cured,” Explain the Alliance of the Heart. “This is why prevention is very important: primary prevention to avoid the appearance of the disease with the cessation of junk food, tobacco, physical inactivity…; and secondary prevention, so that sick people take care of their health with good care in order to avoid many complications”, continues the patient association.
Avoid delay in treatment
To avoid a delay in care, you can know if you suffer from insufficiency from the acronym EPOF: E for shortness of breath, P for weight, O for edema of the lower limbs and F for fatigue. “If these symptoms are identified by the patient, it is advisable to consult as quickly as possible his treating doctor and his cardiologist”, insists Dr. Patrick Assyag, cardiologist.
Young people are also affected
Contrary to popular belief, if heart failure primarily affects older people over 65, the disease also affects adults from the age of 45 and sometimes even young people. They may have a genetic heart disease such as cardiomyopathy, or a viral one such as severe myocarditis (damaged heart muscle) caused by various toxic substances such as excessive alcohol consumption.
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