Lifestyle cause of most deaths

Civilization Diseases: Unhealthy lifestyle accounts for 86 percent of all deaths.

04/10/2013

The so-called life-style diseases such as diabetes, cancer, cardiovascular diseases or chronic lung complaints make the social and health systems more and more. The name can be misleading, as often a combination of genetic susceptibility, lifestyle and environmental influences ultimately leads to the disease. Almost two-thirds of the 57 million deaths worldwide are attributable to them. Experts have been working on effective measures and campaigns for some time to reduce the mortality rate.

If we want to ensure that social and health care systems remain financially viable in the long term, we must succeed in "successfully controlling the global, epidemic spread of non-communicable diseases," said Martin McKee of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine at the European Health Forum Gastein (EHFG ). The EHFG is the leading health policy congress in the EU and takes place annually. It provides an important platform for public health decision-makers. Three quarters of all diseases in Europe are related to these diseases and 86% of deaths are related to them. It was 1.12 million cancer deaths in 2000, and is estimated at 1.42 million in 2015.

According to forecasts by the European Commission, by 2030 66 million people in Europe will be suffering from diabetes if the disease is no longer and more efficiently counteracted.

Effective measures

In three areas you should do more work:
- Damming smoking
- Reduction of salt consumption
- Prevention of heart attacks and strokes in high-risk patients.

For McKee, a successful anti-tobacco strategy depends on pricing policies, including significant tax increases and consistent smoking bans in public places. Limitations in marketing, such as advertising in social media and films, must also be promoted.

The impact of cigarettes curbs has been determined by Georgetown University's American cancer specialist David Levy and his team: In 41 countries, this will prevent approximately 7.4 million early tobacco-related deaths by 2050.

An increase in tobacco tax and smoking bans in offices and restaurants are the most positive. Preventing premature deaths is not the only positive effect: „There are fewer birth complications, lower costs for healthcare systems and fewer workplace failures due to comorbidities of smoking“, says the cancer specialist.

Reducing salt intake is another major challenge. "18 percent of the world's deaths are caused by high blood pressure, which is often associated with excessive salt intake." A 15 percent reduction in salt over ten years could prevent 8.5 million deaths in 23 countries alone, where 80 percent of all civilization diseases occur worldwide. "This is not just about appealing to health-conscious behavior of individuals, but the main responsibility lies with the food industry, because most of the salt load comes from industrially processed foods," said the professor of public health.

The consistent treatment of people with a particularly high cardiovascular risk, McKee is the third future project to focus more attention. In the future, the accessibility of necessary medicines that can prevent a heart attack or stroke should be facilitated. The preparations should be easy to take. This should be done by combining several drugs in one tablet. To do this, governments need to step up and promote action, such as prevention campaigns to curb alcohol abuse or promote physical activity and healthy diets. (Fr)