Age, date of birth, ID, telephone number.
All numbers that we need on a daily basis and that we usually remember by heart.
But there are others that are also important to know - and much more so from 40-50 years onwards - because they are
examples
of how our cardiovascular health is.
The problem is that these values can be altered for many years without causing any symptoms, silently increasing the risk of suffering a
heart attack or stroke
, among other life-threatening consequences.
The goal is to act before that happens.
If our numbers are outside the range of what is considered normal,
measures can be taken to control them and thus lower the risk
.
But you cannot control what you do not know, specialists insist.
That is why they emphasize the importance of evaluating
blood pressure, cholesterol and blood sugar levels
and being attentive to body weight and the number of hours of sleep.
Prevent instead of cure
"As a society, we must move from disease care to preventive care so that people can live the best and fullest lives possible," said Laxmi Mehta, director of Preventive Cardiology and Women's Cardiovascular Health at Wexner Medical Center in Ohio State University.
Mehta led a survey that asked more than 1,000 U.S. adults if they knew their blood pressure, ideal weight, cholesterol or blood sugar levels.
These are the
four health factors
included in the American Heart Association's (AHA) Life's Essential 8 guidelines.
The other four refer to healthy behaviors: diet, physical activity, exposure to cigarettes and sleep.
The results were somewhat discouraging: less than half knew their blood pressure and ideal weight and barely one in five knew their cholesterol or blood sugar.
"They are more likely to know their parents' phone number or their best friend's birthday than predictors of heart disease such as blood pressure and cholesterol levels," the authors analyzed.
"Most people associate diabetes with a family history or being overweight, and don't make the connection with heart disease. People with diabetes are
twice as likely to suffer from heart disease
or stroke," Mehta said.
And he recalled that it is important not only to know the numbers, "but also
to be proactive
with medications and lifestyle changes, such as diet and exercise."
"When you visit your doctor," he advised, "ask him or her what your blood pressure, cholesterol and blood sugar numbers are and what the normal range is for you. Discuss your sleeping habits along with diet, exercise, smoking and alcohol consumption. Also, none of us like to talk about our own weight, but it is an important conversation because being overweight is a risk factor for heart disease," he advised.
Five numbers for a healthy heart
Blood pressure
In Argentina, hypertension is considered based on measurements of 140/90 mm Hg, which is equivalent to what we colloquially read as 14 "high" and 9 "low."
"The diagnosis is very simple. The only thing we have to do is measure our blood pressure correctly with an automatic and validated device and perform several measurements,"
Marcos Marin, former president of the Argentine Society of Arterial Hypertension (SAHA), explains to
Clarín
. ).
"If the average of these measurements is
above 135/85
, we are almost able to say that a person has high blood pressure. The doctor will confirm it in the office or with the indication of outpatient blood pressure monitoring."
In our country, the underdiagnosis of high blood pressure is also a problem, recognizes the leader of the Know and Control Campaign of the SAHA.
"
Almost 40% of hypertensive patients do not know they are hypertensive
and of the 60% who have a diagnosis, more than half are treated and are not well controlled. Therefore, only two out of every 10 hypertensive patients have their blood pressure well controlled."
How often should a hypertensive person check their blood pressure?
"The concept should be that every hypertensive patient has to have their blood pressure controlled.
With each change of season
, the ideal would be for you to go to the doctor and have him measure your blood pressure in two or three measurements in the same consultation," Marin advised. .
Blood glucose
After an eight-hour fast, blood sugar should be
less than 100 mg/dL
in people who have risk factors and less than 110 mg/dL in those who do not.
Periodically evaluating blood glucose levels allows for an
early diagnosis of diabetes mellitus or type 2
, which does not cause symptoms until it is in an advanced stage, when the damage is already very severe.
In Argentina, almost 13% of those over 18 years of age live with diabetes, which is equivalent to about 4 million people.
"The most worrying thing is that
45% of people with diabetes are unaware of their diagnosis
and that means they cannot take any care initiative regarding their disease," warned Carla Musso, vice president of the World Disease Day. Argentine Diabetes Society (SAD).
Cholesterol and glucose are evaluated by blood tests.
Photo Shutterstock.
How is diabetes diagnosed?
"The diagnosis is made when a person has
two blood glucose levels greater than or equal to 126 mg/dl
, that is, a blood test after 8 hours of fasting. Or if not, by the oral glucose tolerance test, which gives a blood glucose greater than or equal to 200 mg/dl," explained the endocrinologist, coordinator of the Diabetes Service of the Favaloro Foundation.
Who should especially control their values?
Screening is particularly important in those at high risk of developing diabetes: people with a first-degree family history (mother/father with diabetes);
overweight, obese or sedentary;
over 35 years of age with high blood pressure, low HDL cholesterol or who have some degree of depression;
women who have had gestational diabetes or children born weighing more than 4 kilos.
Those people with risk factors who present altered fasting blood glucose between 100 and 125 mg/dl or glucose tolerance values between 140 and 199 mg/dl are considered to have prediabetes, which is also associated with complications, but It is a stage in which you can intervene to reduce the progression to diabetes.
Cholesterol
There is no value universally considered normal.
Adequate cholesterol levels are different for each person and depend on a set of factors (history and the presence of risk factors, among others).
Therefore, although it is considered that total cholesterol should be less than 200 mg/dl, it is advisable to speak with a health professional about the recommended range of LDL cholesterol (low-density lipoprotein) on an individual level.
"The lower, the better,"
Pablo Corral, former president of the Argentine Lipid Society (SAL), emphasized in a recent interview with Clarín.
And he explained that "every patient must be evaluated in the context of their cardiovascular risk and in this way
the objectives to be achieved for LDL cholesterol levels will be defined
and therapy will be chosen according to this goal."
Normal
is not the same as desirable
, he highlighted.
Normal is given by the levels that are usually recorded in the population, while desirable is what the body really needs to live.
"It is impossible to live without cholesterol, but how much is enough for this? A minimum amount, approximately 20 or 30 mg/dl of LDL cholesterol would be enough to fulfill the multiple functions of cholesterol in the body."
That's much less than the 200 mg/dl threshold.
"That is why it is said that the lower the better, based on the fact that although you cannot live without cholesterol, having high values is
causally associated with atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease
, which in turn is the number one cause of morbidity and mortality in the world. ".
In Argentina, according to the latest National Risk Factor Survey, almost one in three people over 18 years of age have values above what is considered normal.
That is, far above what the body really needs to live.
body mass index
A normal range is
between 18.5 and 24.9
. Although body mass index (BMI) is considered an imperfect metric, it is still considered a reasonable indicator for evaluating weight categories that can lead to health problems.
BMI is calculated by dividing a person's weight in kilograms by the square of their height (height) in meters (kg/m2).
For example, a person who weighs 60 kg and is 1.60 m tall has a BMI of 23.4 (60/1.60 = 60/2.56 = 23.4).
If the result of that calculation is
above 30, it is considered obesity
.
In Argentina, 6 out of 10 people are above their healthy weight.
"Something striking, as we have seen in a study, is that 68% of people who are overweight or obese
consider that their weight is normal
or slightly elevated, that is, there is no awareness of what obesity implies," he warned in a meeting in which Clarín Martín Rodríguez, president of the SAD, participated.
Specialists warn that this gap in perception
undermines the search for alternatives
to achieve weight loss and thus reduce the complications linked to overweight and obesity.
Maintaining a healthy weight is also good for your heart.
Photo Shutterstock.
Dream
They advise sleeping an average of
7 to 9 hours per day
. That recommendation was the last to be included in the AHA's Life's Essential 8 guidelines, driven by the strength of scientific evidence generated in recent years.
Various research has shown that people who have healthier sleep patterns manage health factors such as weight, blood pressure or the risk of type 2 diabetes more effectively.
***
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