Heart Doctors Want Credit For Your Health

Cardiologists from around the world have descended on Barcelona for Europe's biggest meeting on heart disease. There have been lots of headlines about two new drugs to prevent blood clots.

But we were struck by comments at a kickoff press conference from Roberto Ferrari, president of the European Society of Cardiology, who said advances in heart treatments account for seven of the 10 years of additional life that adults today can expect compared with folks 30 or 40 years ago.

He threw down the gauntlet for his cancer colleagues, whose work, he said, has added only 2.4 months of life over the same period. "In cardiology, we have been extremely good," he bragged. "It is now difficult to die from a myocardial infarction," or a heart attack. He told MedPage Today his claims are based on published data.

 

In a paper he wrote with two colleagues, Ferrari uses slightly different figures, saying cardiology contributed six of eight years of increased life expectancy over the last century. Whatever the exact numbers, the accomplishments of heart doctors constitute "a modern fairly tale," in the words of the article's title.

But Ferrari and his co-authors say for all the gains in treatment, prevention of heart disease remains a real challenge. "Changing the lifestyle of a population for the better is no easy task—ironically, getting it to deteriorate is easily done," they write, citing the corrosive effects of TV and other media. To their consternation, Italian children now choose burgers and fries over spaghetti and tomato sauce, the healthier option.

All is not lost, however. They cite progress in Ferrara, Italy, where Ferrari practices. Located in one of Italy's richest agricultural regions, Ferrara has some luck at getting people to eat more vegetable, fruit and fish. There are no data yet on how well a heart-health campaign has worked, but prevention first starts with awareness.

See the MedPage Today video report on Ferrari's talk below: