Do you and your family have a healthy heart?
On World Heart Day, 29th September, the World Heart Federation is calling for people – specifically mothers who are gatekeepers to the home – to take action now to protect their own heart health, as well as that of their children and families to safeguard future generations.
Here are all of the facts that you need to know regarding heart disease.
What is cardiovascular disease (CVD)?
Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is caused by disorders of the heart and blood vessels, and includes heart attack, heart failure, sudden death, stroke, raised blood pressure, peripheral artery disease, rheumatic heart disease and congenital heart disease.
CVD can affect all ages and population groups, with some risks for CVD beginning even before birth.
Some children are born with structural abnormalities of the heart – this is referred to as congenital heart disease. In fact, this is the most common birth defect. Other children can be affected by heart disease, such as rheumatic heart disease or Kawasaki disease, during childhood. Additionally, the risk factors and risk behaviors for adult CVD, including heart attack and stroke, begin in childhood.
CVD risk factors and children
Efforts to protect people from the risk factors that cause CVD require a life-course approach, from conception through to life end. Among children, the risk of CVD can begin during foetal development, and exposure to risk factors and risk behaviours during childhood can significantly increase the risk of developing CVD later in life. Risk factors include overweight/obesity, poor nutrition, lack of physical activity and tobacco use/exposure to smoking.
84 per cent of obese children will suffer from obesity as adults and are at a greater risk of developing CVD later in life.
Good nutrition beginning in infancy has profound health benefits and can lower the risk of CVD. Worldwide, poor intake of fruit and vegetables causes 11 per cent of ischaemic heart disease deaths and about 9 per cent of stroke deaths.
Lack of physical activity in childhood is linked to sedentary behaviour in adulthood, which in turn is related to higher levels of obesity and obesity-related CVD risk factors.
Tobacco use is responsible for six million deaths worldwide and maternal smoking directly impairs children’s health during foetal development. Children may account for up to 31 per cent of deaths attributable to second-hand smoke.
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