Expert Proffers Solution To Reducing Heart Failure

NIGERIANS have been urged to abide by simple health tips to prevent rampant heart failure and sudden death in society.
The Nigerian Cardiac Society (NCS), while noting an increasing trend in heart failure due to a number of factors, including lack of exercise and disrespect for consumption of traditional food.

The president of NSC, Dr. Amam C. Mbakwem, told journalists in Ile-Ife, the Osun State capital, on society’s 44th Annual General and Scientific Meeting, with the theme, ‘Emerging Therapies in Heart Failure,’ said excessive application of salt and other seasonings in menu constitute serious health risks capable of resulting to heart failure.

She urged the authorities to come up with a legislation that would regulate the level of salt used by eateries, while government should also create walkways to enable Nigerians exercise more easily.

She explained that change in lifestyle, including abstinence from eating natural food, has further compounded the occurrence of cardiac arrest, leading to untimely death of many.
“Heart failure has emerged as one of the major cardiovascular diseases that is increasing, both in incidence and
prevalence.
“This is because as we improve our management of cardiovascular diseases, both acquired and congenital, thereby prolonging the lives of individuals with these conditions, we have a greater pool of patients with corrected diseases that may end up in failure,” she noted.

Mbakwem traced heart failure to age factor, saying that most societies are
aging and because heart failure is majorly a disease of the elderly in the developed world and middle age in the developing economies, the burden would continue to rise.

She added that people must not lose sight of the fact that heart failure is a disease that has no respect for age and can also affect even the neonates.
“It is an established fact that despite new advances in the management of heart failure, the morbidity and mortality has not decreased appreciably.
“The search for new therapies and modalities for management can never be overemphasised, because the burden of heart failure, in terms of morbidity (poor functional capacity, frequent
hospitalisations, poor quality of life) and mortality exerts a heavy economic burden on the individual, health system and government.
“So, nothing must be spared, as we look for the best standard of care for
our patients, be it medical, device or surgical therapy,” she counseled.