Cardiovascular diseases still represent the second cause of death in France in the context of insufficient prevention, estimates this Tuesday, March 4, the Public Health Agency, highlighting two action levers: to improve the lifestyle and care of women.
These diseases “were responsible for more than one million hospitalizations in 2022 and 140,000 deaths in 2021, more than one in five deaths,” said Caroline Sémaille, director of Public Health France, in a newsletter that brings together several studies on the subject.
This figure includes all the so-called “cardio-necorus” diseases, which include stroke along with pathologies such as heart failure. This is the second cause of death in France, behind cancers.
Lack of effectiveness of prevention among the French
The most common of cardiovascular pathologies remains an ischemic heart disease, the main cause of heart failure, which affects three million French.
“The number of adults hospitalized for heart failure and the prevalence of heart failure has never been so high,” said one of the 2022 figures based.
If this increase is logical due to population agingIt is also related to the lack of effectiveness of prevention in the French, while cardiovascular diseases are among the most avoidable diseases when adopting a healthy life.
“Almost a quarter of adults still smoke daily, they have a high level of sedentary lifestyle, and three men and more than one in 10 women have alcohol consumption exposing them to complications,” said Caroline Sentaille.
Only a small proportion of French (one in ten) has “optimal cardiovascular health”, an indicator that incorporates all prevention factors.
Women remain more affected
But this figure covers strong inequalities. The less educated French (without high school) are extremely rare (4%) to have optimal health at this level, while the proportion exceeds 20% in those who have followed higher studies.
Inequalities are not just social. Women remain strongly affected by cardiovascular disease, a reality that is not only explained by specific risk factors, but also related to less good management.
This observation echoes a recent report by the Academy of Medicine that recalled that the infarction is the first cause of mortality in women, and accurately pointed out an erroneous perception of infarction as a “mainly masculine” disease, both in patients and in emergency medical services, inducing a lack of attention.
Source: BFM TV
