WHO: Preventive drugs may halve heart, stroke toll

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WHO: Preventive drugs may halve heart, stroke toll

Last Updated: 2002-10-18 10:00:47 -0400 (Reuters Health)

By Nebehay

GENEVA (Reuters) - Heart disease and stroke kill 12 million people

annually, but the toll could be halved if those at risk spent just a few

dollars a year on preventive drugs and aspirin, the World Health

Organization said Friday.

In a sneak preview of its annual World Health Report 2002, the WHO also

urged countries to promote lower salt content in processed foods, lower

dietary fat, more exercise and higher intake of fruits and vegetables,

while curbing smoking.

" Prevention is the key to lowering the global disease burden of heart

attacks and strokes, " WHO Director-General Gro Harlem Brundtland said in

a statement.

High blood pressure causes 50% of cardiovascular disease, twice as much

as previously thought, according to the UN agency whose full report is

due on Oct. 30.

Smoking, high blood pressure and high cholesterol--long leading risk

factors of cardiovascular disease in the affluent West-- " feature

prominently in the top risks in middle income countries and are

beginning to appear in the leading risks of poorer developing

countries, " the WHO said.

The WHO last week revised its annual death toll for smoking-related

diseases to 4.9 million people from 4.2 million in part because of

better research into cardiovascular disease in developing countries

including China and India.

PREVENTION CHEAP

Yet a daily combination of common drugs for lowering cholesterol and

blood pressure, as well as aspirin, costs $14 a year, according to the

agency, currently hosting two-week negotiations on a global treaty aimed

at curbing tobacco use.

" This drug combination could cut death and disability rates from

cardiovascular disease by more than 50% among people at risk, " said Dr.

Murray, a WHO policy adviser.

" More people at elevated risk for cardiovascular disease should start

taking the combination now, before they have heart attacks or strokes, "

he said.

But the WHO conceded that $14 a year was nearly the amount spent

annually by some countries on health care per person.

In all, cardiovascular diseases including heart attacks, strokes,

congenital heart disease and erratic breathing cause some 17 million

deaths each year, says Dr. Shanthi Mendis, coordinator of the WHO's

cardiovascular diseases program.

" About 80% of these deaths occur in low and middle income countries,

which spend between $15 and $20 per capita on health care and have to

handle this enormous burden but lack the capacity to fight the

epidemic, " she told a news briefing.

Only one country in three has a policy on tackling cardiovascular

disease, with most investing less in prevention than in treatment of

those already stricken, she said.

" A very small percent of state resources are spent on population-wide

prevention. Most resources are given to curative care and that too in a

wasteful way.

" Very expensive procedures and interventions are promoted at the cost of

population-wide prevention which has enormous potential to prevent

cardiovascular disease, " she added.

In a statement, the World Heart Federation welcomed the report and

backed increasing budgets for preventive action.