This past Sunday, 3 June, saw the establishment of the Jiangsu Centre of National Medical Treatment and Alliance of Cardiac Failure as part of initiatives to inform Chinese smokers of the risks therein.
Among the most common factors for cardiac failure, sometimes referred to as a heart attach, are smoking, being overweight, eating foods high in fat and cholesterol and physical inactivity. Last year The Nanjinger discussed cardiac health with, regards to the dangers of cholesterol from the overuse of salt and oil in the Chinese diet.
More recent news surrounds not only the dangers of cholesterol and stress on the heart, but the risk of tobacco intake, and China’s continuing and concerning apparent lack of awareness of how smoking can not only accelerate lung damage but can also lead to a stroke too.
“According to the Global Adult Tobacco Survey, adult smokers who do not believe, or do not know that smoking causes heart attack, range from 61 percent in China to 5 percent in Egypt; and adult smokers who do not believe, or do not know that smoking causes stroke, range from 73 percent in China to 11 percent in Romania”, reported the Framework Convention Alliance.
The Nanjing government yesterday released an article stating that cardiac deaths are still high locally, with 60 percent passing away after only 5 years of illness. It was reported in the article that, “Among the patients receiving treatment in the Department of Cardiology at Gulou Hospital, the number of patients with cardiac failure accounts for about 15 percent”.
Doctors spoke of patients not only displaying an apparent lack of awareness with regards to the link between smoking and heart disease, but also highlighted that “large changes in diet structure, poor living habits and other causes have greatly advanced the disease spectrum [in China]”. Health professionals also warned that heart disease is not only reserved for the elderly, noting the recent death of a 26-year-old at Zhongda Hospital, who died of heart failure.
Nearly 70 hospitals are reportedly cooperating with Jiangsu’s new cardiac alliance to guard against heart failure, while the central government is making further strides toward a smoke-free China with its Thirteenth 5-Year Plan to, “build an environment free from tobacco”, according to state news agency Xinhua. Furthermore, the government aims during this time to reduce “Tobacco users to fewer than a quarter of the total population aged 15 and above”.
