Take care of your heart, emirs!
Wealth linked to risk of heart disease
Denis Strigun, Naked Science
Although cardiovascular diseases remain the leading cause of death worldwide, their risk factors have not been sufficiently studied. It is known that, for example, the southern model of nutrition, hyperactivity of the amygdala and living near airports can increase the likelihood of illness. It is less clear how the living standards of the region and individual income are related to this indicator. In the 1930s and 1950s, it was higher in developed countries, but since the 1970s it has increased sharply in developing countries. Moreover, in the latter, such violations are more common among villagers. It is assumed that the effect may be explained by limited access to medicine: in this case, by 2020, less than 20 percent of such diagnoses will be made by citizens.
In the new work, employees of the King Faisal Specialized Hospital and other institutions checked how income, education and employment levels affect the risk of cardiovascular diseases in two developing countries - the UAE and Saudi Arabia. Despite their status, these states are among the largest oil exporters and have a relatively high nominal gross domestic product (GDP) per capita: 23 and 35 places, respectively, out of 186, according to The International Monetary Fund (IMF) (for comparison, Russia ranks 67th in the rating). The authors examined the cases of patients from five local hospitals that occurred from 2013 to 2014. The final sample included 1068 people.
Sociodemographic and anthropometric information was collected about the latter. In particular, the researchers were interested in age, ethnicity, body mass index (BMI), past medical history, specific diagnosis (congestive heart failure, peripheral artery disease, and others), which served as an indication for the appointment of treatment, smoking experience. The scientists compared this information with the place of residence — the country and type of settlement, the form of work (from the unemployed to the self—employed), the level of education (from the illiterate to candidates of sciences) and income. The range of the latter ranged from less than 1,300 to more than $10,600 per month.
The analysis confirmed previous observations: villagers were more likely to suffer from coronary heart disease — 72 percent versus 62 percent — with damage to the trunk of the left coronary artery and multivessel damage to the coronary bed than the townspeople. At the same time, a greater number of the latter, compared with the former, received treatment, the only exception was the procedure of percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI). The trend was best predicted by higher individual income and unemployment. According to the researchers, the effect may also be mediated by low physical activity. It is known that residents of, for example, Saudi Arabia are extremely sedentary.
Scientists emphasize that the data obtained indicate the need to expand rural residents' access to medical care. At the same time, the results indicate an association between diseases of the cardiovascular system and high material wealth. This may be due to poor nutrition and the level of everyday stress, and requires further study.
Details of the work are presented in The Open Cardiovascular Medicine Journal (Daoulah et al., Socio-Economic Factors and Severity of Coronary Artery Disease in Patients Undergoing Coronary Angiography: A Multicentre Study of Arabian Gulf States).
Portal "Eternal youth" http://vechnayamolodost.ru
24.07.2017