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According to cardiologist Eglė Palevičiūtė, if high blood pressure causes discomfort and unpleasant sensations in people, then the level of cholesterol in the blood is as if it were invisible.
“Whether cholesterol is high or low, a person does not feel any symptoms for a long time. Often the symptoms of cholesterol and other imbalances of fats in the blood, or dyslipidemia, if you can call them that, are acute diseases: myocardial infarction, stroke, “said the doctor in a statement to the media. E. Palevičiūtė.
Everyone needs to know the health indicators.
According to the doctor, “bad” cholesterol alters blood flow by accumulating on the walls of the arteries, forming atherosclerotic plaques and is one of the most important risk factors for the development of atherosclerosis.
“One of the consequences of atherosclerosis is myocardial infarction, an acute, life-threatening disease. After a heart attack, even if modern medical devices manage to restore blood flow to the heart and save lives, a large proportion of patients develop heart scarring, heart failure, heart valve damage, arrhythmia. Therefore, elevated levels of bad cholesterol often deviate the circle of chronic heart disease, “says the doctor.
Cholesterol and cardiovascular limits
A study by American researchers published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology shows that people who are diagnosed with high “bad” cholesterol levels at a young age are 64 percent. more likely to develop heart disease in old age.
E. Palevičiūtė says that dyslipidemia or high blood pressure is most often diagnosed in middle-aged and elderly people, although it can also occur at a young age. Blood pressure measures itself or many people seek medical attention if they experience unwanted symptoms, although there has been a recent increase in the number of young people wanting to undergo a preventive exam and self-assessment of their general health and heart condition. .
Lithuania has a cardiovascular disease prevention program for men over 40 and women over 50. In such patients, a lipidogram, a blood fat test, is performed once a year in combination with other preventive tests.
“Young people are more likely to study other health indicators, thinking that dyslipidemia and hypertension are diseases of the elderly, but I would also recommend measuring blood pressure, taking a lipidogram at least once every 2-3 years, especially if you have a family predisposition to cardiovascular diseases or additional risk factors such as obesity, smoking, diabetes.
The longer the period of dyslipidemia or high blood pressure in our body, the greater the chances of developing and progressing atherosclerosis and other heart diseases, so the timely adjustment of these factors significantly reduces the risk of future cardiovascular diseases “, he says the cardiologist.
Often when a diagnosis of high blood pressure is made, a lipidogram is performed to evaluate other risk factors, so these diseases are detected quite often during the same visit to the doctor.
When will diet help, and when will medication help?
Cholesterol is not the only factor that increases your risk for heart disease. No less important are other risk factors: high blood glucose, high blood pressure, smoking, obesity, lack of physical activity, excessive alcohol consumption.
A healthy diet should be nourished by me.
“It is important to know that the negative effects of these risk factors add up. If a person only has dyslipidemia, the risk of developing cardiovascular disease increases, but if their blood glucose is also elevated or they are obese, the risk is even higher. Therefore, the more factors, the more important it is to act in a timely manner. The individual level of “ bad ” cholesterol (LDL) also depends on the number of risk factors: if it is only dyslipidemia, the rate is 3 mmol / l and less, if he is also diabetic, then the target rate is less than 2.6 mmol / l. and if the patient has had a myocardial infarction, the target LDL rate is up to 1.4 mmol / l ”, he emphasizes E. Palevičiūtė.
The cardiologist affirms that when the “bad” cholesterol increases very little and the person does not have other risk factors, it is often enough to adjust the lifestyle: move more, abandon harmful habits, eat healthier. Nutrition is essential because cholesterol enters the body with fatty foods of animal origin, so the amount of such products should be limited.
When the amount of “bad” cholesterol in the blood is high and lifestyle adjustments alone are not enough, drugs that inhibit the body’s production of cholesterol, statins, are used for treatment. If dyslipidemia is accompanied by high blood pressure, the doctor says that he often prescribes multiple tablets combining statins and antihypertensive drugs in such cases.
“Cardiologists frequently prescribe policablets, both to those diagnosed with high blood pressure and dyslipidemia for the first time, and to those with other heart conditions. Patients also like to combine several active ingredients in one tablet.
A polyhablet reduces the likelihood of forgetting to take or confusing medication, as well as often patients escaping from psychological discomfort by taking 2-3 tablets a day, and sometimes in the case of various illnesses, the amount of medication needed may reach 10 or more. The effect of the combined drugs in one tablet is not minor, on the contrary, science has shown that fewer tablets lead to more effective treatment, because less often forget to take drugs, ”says E. Palevičiūtė.
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