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Report
Says 13 Ticos Die Daily From Cardiovascular
Disease
A report
in today's edition of the Spanish language
daily, La Nación, the print newspaper says that
today, 13 Costa Ricans, will probably die from
cardiovascular illnesses, like a hearth attack
or stroke.
Cardiovascular disease refers to the class of
diseases that involve the heart and/or blood
vessels (arteries and veins).
Coronary illness is the the cause of some 5.000
deaths each year. In 2005, the Caja
Costarriceense de Seguro Social (CCSS) - social
security - registered 4.690 deaths, while the
number grew to 4.868 in 2006.
The majority of the deaths are of persons 65
years of age and over, however, figures show an
alarming 10% of the deaths to be between the
ages of 25 and 54, according to figures from the
deaths registry kept by the Instituto Nacional
de Estadística y Censos.
The illness does not discriminate the sexes, as
figures show that 52% of the deaths are men and
48% women. Women do have an advantage until
menopause, as the sexual hormones protect them
from coronary disease, but then begins to
increase.
The cost to the CCSS was ¢35 billion colones
(us$67.8 million dollars) in 2006 and is
expected to increase by ¢3 billion colones each
year, representing 7% of the budget destined for
social security.
Jacqueline Castillo Rivas has written a report
for the actuarial and economic planning
department of the CCSS, on the impart of the
ilness on the health system.
The document titled "Atención de las
enfermedades cardiovasculares en la Caja
(1998-2005)" reveals a sustained increase in the
costs for treatment that wen from ¢10.47 billion
colones in 1998 to the ¢35 billion last year.
According to the report, the mortality rate for
the type of illness was 109.96 per 100.000
inhabitants, 40% higher that the mortality rate
for different types of cancers.
In Costa Rica, like in other parts of the world,
cardiovascular illness is the principal cause of
death and illness.
The cause can be attributed partly to inadequate
dieting, like consuming excess amounts of flour
and saturated fat and lack of physical exercise.
The report indicates that in 2005 the CCSS
attended 1 million insured of which 834.000
where attended by specialists, 106.000 in the
emergency rooms and 150.000 hospitalized.
There are many risk factors which associate with
(but are not all causes of) various forms of
cardiovascular disease. These include the
following:
Non-modifiable Risk Factors
- Age
- Gender, men under age 64 are much more likely
to die of coronary heart disease than women,
although the gender difference declines with
age. (The gender difference is less pronounced
in blacks than in whites, but it is still
significant )
- Genetic factors/Family history of
cardiovascular disease
Modifiable Risk Factors
- Tobacco smoking
- Insulin resistance & Diabetes mellitus
- Hypercholesterolemia (elevated cholesterol
levels) and abnormal lipoprotein particle
profile (cholesterol subtypes)
- Obesity, especially central or male-type
obesity; apart from being linked to diabetes,
this form of obesity independently increases
cardiovascular risk, presumedly by inducing an
inflammatory and procoagulant state
- High blood pressure
- Elevated heart rate[4]
- Physical inactivity/Sedentary lifestyle
- Absence of key nutritional elements, such as
omega-3 fatty acids and polyphenol antioxidants
- Exposure to high levels of environmental noise
- Stress
- Depression
- Periodontal disease
Treatment
Treatment of cardiovascular disease depends on
the specific form of the disease in each
patient, but effective treatment always includes
preventive lifestyle changes discussed above.
Medications, such as blood pressure reducing
medications, aspirin and the statin
cholesterol-lowering drugs may be helpful. In
some circumstances, surgery or angioplasty may
be warranted to reopen, repair, or replace
damaged blood vessels.
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