CVDs are the number 1 cause of death globally: more people die annually from CVDs than from any other cause. CVDs are a group of disorders of the heart and blood vessels and include coronary heart disease, cerebrovascular disease, rheumatic heart disease and other conditions.
An estimated 17.9 million people died from CVDs, representing 31% of all global deaths. Of these deaths, 85% are due to heart attack and stroke. Out of the 17 million premature deaths (under the age of 70) due to noncommunicable diseases in 2015, 82% are in low- and middle-income countries, and 37% are caused by CVDs.
Over three-quarters of CVD deaths take place in low- and middle-income countries.
Most cardiovascular diseases can be prevented by addressing behavioural risk factors such as tobacco use, unhealthy diet and obesity, physical inactivity and harmful use of
alcohol using population-wide strategies.
4 out of 5 CVD deaths are due to heart attacks and strokes, and one-third of these deaths occur prematurely in people under 70 years of age.
People with CVDs or who are at high cardiovascular risk (due to the presence of one or more risk factors such as Hypertension, Diabetes, Hyperlipidaemia or already established disease) need early detection and management using counselling and medicines, as appropriate.
Two Types of Interventions developed by WHO as : Population-wide and Individual, which are recommended to be used in combination to reduce the greatest cardiovascular disease burden.
Population-wide Interventions can be implemented to reduce CVDs include:
- comprehensive tobacco control policies
- taxation to reduce the intake of foods that are high in fat, sugar and salt
- building walking and cycle paths to increase physical activity
- strategies to reduce harmful use of alcohol
- providing healthy school meals to children.
At Individual Level include:
- Prevention of first heart attacks and strokes, individual health-care interventions need to be targeted to those at high total cardiovascular risk or those with single risk factor levels such as Hypertension and Hypercholesterolemia.
For secondary prevention of CVDs in those with established disease, including diabetes, treatment with the following medications are necessary:
- Aspirin
- Beta-Blockers
- Angiotensin-Converting Enzyme Inhibitors
- Statins.
In addition costly surgical operations are sometimes required to treat CVDs. They include:
- coronary artery bypass
- balloon angioplasty (where a small balloon-like device is threaded through an artery to open the blockage)
- valve repair and replacement
- heart transplantation
- artificial heart operations
Medical devices are required to treat some CVDs. Such devices include pacemakers, prosthetic valves, and patches for closing holes in the heart.
(Source - WHO (link - https://www.who.int/en/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/cardiovascular-diseases-(cvds)))