The hardest part is changing your lifestyle. Doctors on the risks of high cholesterol and blood pressure

Did you know that at least every second Russian has high cholesterol? This statement was made by Vasily Kashtalap, HEAD of the Department of Clinical Cardiology of the Research Institute of Complex Problems of Cardiovascular Diseases.

Dyslipidemia is the most common risk factor for the development of cardiovascular pathologies. The control of this disease in RUSSIA is poorly set, the DOCTOR says, so the number of deaths is many times higher than in Europe or America.

Kashtalap also cited figures: with a decrease in blood cholesterol levels, the risk of major coronary events decreases by 23% and cardiovascular events by 21%. For example, in the United States managed to reverse the situation with dyslipidemia through an "aggressive" approach to all factors of cardiovascular risk - that is, smoking cessation, increased physical activity and prevention of complications of arterial hypertension.

According to the professor, you need to start with an assessment of individual cardiovascular risk in people with dyslipidemia, especially if they are over 75 years old (as a rule, there are certain diseases of this kind at this age). By assessing the risk, it is possible to determine the goals and possibilities of drug exposure to the patient. And the higher the risk, the more intensive the intervention should be. Prevention of cardiovascular disease becomes many times more effective if you combine smoking cessation and correction of dyslipidemia.

In some cases, patients refuse to quit the addiction. Then, as one option, it is possible to offer them to reduce the number of cigarettes or switch to alternative methods of nicotine delivery (for example, tobacco heating systems). If the device does not use combustion, it emits less harmful substances compared to traditional cigarettes.

Also, many people do not monitor blood pressure. For example, according to Alexander Rozanov, Candidate of Medical Sciences, Assistant DIRECTOR for Regional Development and Federal Projects of the OSP "Russian Gerontological Scientific and Clinical Center" FGAOU VO RNIMU named after. N. I. Pirogov of the Ministry of HEALTH of Russia, 60-70% of people have arterial pressure not in order, but more than half of them do not know about it. And those who know do not always control and even more so do it correctly.

The main risk factors for death from non-communicable chronic diseases are smoking, physical inactivity, ALCOHOL and unhealthy diet. Compliance with certain rules effectively prolongs life even in old age, says Rozanov. These include smoking cessation, lipid therapy, and blood pressure lowering therapy.

According to Helen Mkhitaryan, Ph.D., neurologist and associate professor of the Department of Aging Diseases of the Russian National Research Medical University. N. I. Pirogov, often the most difficult thing for a patient is a change in lifestyle. The same nicotine affects the dopamine centers strongly enough, causing a feeling of satisfaction, so that over time it becomes a habit. Of course, in the ideal case, the patient still wins a destructive addiction - in this case, the risks are gradually reduced to the level of a person who has never smoked.

- If the patient fails to quit smoking for some reason, experts can recommend the use of the concept of harm reduction, which involves switching to alternative methods of nicotine delivery. In particular, on electronic tobacco heating systems.

| Prepared based on PMI materials, photo from open Internet sources.