Encouraging more people to use aspirin and other low-cost medicines would reduce the toll from heart disease and stroke, the leading cause of death worldwide, researchers said.
A seven-year study of more than 150,000 people found that about 60 percent of those with heart disease may not be taking any of the four effective drug types, according to research presented yesterday at the European Society of Cardiology’s conference in Paris. Use of the treatments was low even in countries with well-developed health systems, according to researchers led by Salim Yusuf of the Population Health Research Institute in Hamilton, Canada.
“Efforts to increase the use of effective and inexpensive drugs for prevention of cardiovascular disease are urgently needed, and would substantially reduce disease burden within a few years,” researchers wrote in the study published in The Lancet.
Cardiovascular disease is the world’s biggest killer and may cause 23.6 million deaths annually by 2030, up from 17.1 million in 2004, according to the Geneva-based WHO. More than 80 percent of deaths occur in lower and middle-income countries, where people have less access to health services and are more exposed to risks such as poor diets, according to WHO.
Researchers looked at anti--platelet drugs such as aspirin, which reduce blood clots, -cholesterol-lowering statins and two types of treatments that lower blood pressure, so-called beta blockers and angiotensin receptor blockers. Participants in 628 rural and urban communities across five continents completed standardized questionnaires by telephone interviews, visits to their homes or when they went to a clinic.
The study “provides a stark and alarming message,” Anthony Heagerty, a cardiologist from the University of Manchester in England, wrote in an accompanying editorial.
“The implication is that a fresh approach to secondary prevention is needed, especially in high--income countries,” he wrote.
Canada, Sweden and the United Arab Emirates were the three high-income countries considered. -Middle-income nations included Brazil, Poland, Turkey, China and South Africa. The poorer countries were India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Zimbabwe.
The study, the largest of its kind to date, according to The Lancet, showed that only a quarter of people suffering from cardiovascular disease used aspirin and other anti-platelet drugs. Use of the other three drug types was even lower, according to the researchers. In low-income countries, less than 10 percent of patients used the drugs.
Governments need to educate doctors and patients about the drugs and work with industry to make sure they are available, Heagerty wrote.
“Strong action is needed,” he said. “An epidemic of cardiovascular disease is just beginning in many countries that are ill-prepared for what is to come.”
Young Chinese, many who fear age discrimination in their workplace after turning 35, are increasingly starting “one-person companies” that have artificial intelligence (AI) do most of the work. Smaller start-ups are already in vogue in Silicon Valley and elsewhere, with rapidly advancing AI tools seen as a welcome teammate even as they threaten layoffs at existing firms. More young people in China are subscribing to the model, as cities pledge millions of dollars in funding and rent subsidies for such ventures, in alignment with Beijing’s political goal of “technological self-reliance.” “The one-person company is a product of the AI era,” said Karen Dai
South Korea’s air force yesterday apologized for a 2021 midair collision involving two fighter jets, a day after auditors said the pilots were taking selfies and filming during the flight and held them responsible for the accident. “We sincerely apologize to the public for the concern caused by the accident that occurred in 2021,” an air force spokesman told a news conference, adding that one of the pilots involved had been suspended from flying duties, received severe disciplinary action and has since left the military. The apology followed a report released on Wednesday by the South Korean Board of Audit and Inspection,
About 240 Indians claiming descent from a Biblical tribe landed at Tel Aviv airport on Thursday as part of a government operation to relocate them to Israel. The newcomers passed under a balloon arch in blue and white, the colors of the Israeli flag, as dozens of well-wishers welcomed them with a traditional Jewish song. They were the first “bnei Menashe” (“sons of Manasseh”) to arrive in Israel since the government in November last year announced funding for the immigration of about 6,000 members of the community from the states of Manipur and Mizoram in northeast India. The community claims to descend from
‘TROUBLING’: The firing of Phelan, who was an adviser to a nonprofit that supported the defense of Taiwan, was another example of ‘dysfunction’ under Trump, a US senator said US Secretary of the Navy John Phelan has been fired, a US official and a person familiar with the matter said on Wednesday, in another wartime shakeup at the Pentagon coming just weeks after US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth ousted the Army’s top general. The Pentagon announced his departure in a brief statement, saying he was leaving the administration “effective immediately,” but it did not provide a reason or say whether it was his decision to go. The sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said Phelan was dismissed in part because he was moving too slowly to implement reforms to
RSS