ROME (ITALPRESS) – A conference organized for World Heart Day 2024 was held today, produced with the nonconditional contribution of Bayer Italy and the sponsorship of the Italian Society of Cardiology and the Italian Heart Failure Association. The event was attended by leading representatives of institutions, clinical experts and patient associations to discuss the impact of cardiovascular diseases and the crucial importance of secondary prevention. In Italy, in fact, these diseases are the leading cause of death in adults, causing 230,000 deaths each year, about 25 every hour, 30 percent of which can be attributed to a condition of thrombosis or atherosclerosis of the arterial wall. Alarming numbers, which could be significantly reduced through effective prevention and by adopting innovative therapies. The day opened with institutional greetings from Senator Elena Murelli, chairwoman of the Parliamentary Intergroup on Cardio, Cerebro and Vascular Diseases and member of the 10th Commission, who pointed out that “thanks to scientific advances and available therapeutic tools, today it is possible to prevent about 80 percent of cardiovascular events.” He then emphasized “the importance of identifying those at risk, stressing that health education and awareness are key to reducing the incidence of these diseases in the adult population.” Speeches by Senator Ylenia Zambito, secretary of the 10th Commission, and the Honorable Gian Antonio Girelli, member of the 12th Commission, reiterated the importance of an integrated approach and the attention that institutions devote today to achieve significant results against these diseases and improve patients’ quality of life. Prominent among the speeches was that of Marco Silano, Director of the Department of Cardiovascular, Endocrine-metabolic and Aging Diseases at the Istituto Superiore di Sanità, who emphasized that “cardiovascular diseases are the leading cause of death in the world, with 17 million deaths a year. In Italy they cause 35.8 percent of all deaths, exceeding 230,000 cases annually. They are also the leading cause of hospitalization in Italy, amounting to about one million per year.” Silano said that “half of these events could be prevented through primary prevention, following healthy lifestyles from childhood.” Finally, Marina Moscatelli, representing the Italian Federation of General Practitioners, expressed the importance of an integrated approach between general practitioners and specialists for the management of cardiovascular pathologies.Also significant was the contribution of the Italian Heart Failure Association, represented by Rossana Bordoni, President of the Association, who said “heart failure is a pathology characterized by comorbidity, disabling, progressive and the first cause of hospitalization and dehospitalization. As an Association we firmly believe, and in this sense we are its spokesperson at the institutional tables, that the new health policy must no longer be focused on the hospital, but on the construction of a territory as the first point of reference for the care of us patients, which better dialogues with the hospital network.”-photo press office Esperia Advocacy-(ITALPRESS).
