(ANSA) - ROME, NOVEMBER 18 - Excess LDL cholesterol, or so-called 'bad', is the main cause of heart attacks and strokes, but it can and must be kept under control with adequate lifestyles and the right therapies.
Focusing attention on this health problem that affects millions of Italians is the awareness campaign aimed at people already affected by heart attacks and strokes, promoted by the Italian Heart Foundation in collaboration with Amgen, entitled "The heart counts on you- right move ".
In Italy, direct healthcare costs for cardiovascular diseases amount to about 16 billion a year. Numbers that will help you understand how widespread the problem is. "In particular -recommends Furio Colivicchi, president-elect of the National Association of Hospital Cardiologists (Anmco) and director of the Cardiology Department of the San Filippo Neri Hospital in Rome - we must emphasize the control of LDL cholesterol, which is not to be considered a factor of risk, but the cause of the disease itself, because it is responsible for the mechanism that leads to the obstruction of the arteries and therefore to the heart attack. The control of the levels of LDL cholesterol in the blood is therefore central to the cure ". Keeping the values within safe limits is one of the first objectives of secondary prevention, that is, aimed at subjects who have already had a heart attack, a stroke or another ischemic problem. (HANDLE).