Last May, at the conferences of the Andalusian Society of Endocrinology and Nutrition, Dr. Valdés told us about the situation of Cardiovascular Health in Andalusia.
Most of the data were not very encouraging:
The cardiovascular mortality rate in Andalusia is among the highest in Spain, with 246.96 CV deaths per 100,000 inhabitants per year (1).
The most prevalent cardiovascular risk factors are:
- Diabetes, whose prevalence in Andalusia is 16.3%, compared to 12.5% prevalence in Spain.
- Hypertensión, with a prevalence of 43.9%, that is, 2,763,089 Andalusians over 18 years of age suffer from it.
- Obesity, whose prevalence in Andalusia is 37%, highlighting abdominal obesity, which is 54.6% in our region.
Other risk factors were not significantly different between Andalusians and the rest of Spaniards, as was the case of hypercholesterolemia and smoking.
Possible causes for these differences were socioeconomic factors and climatology, since living in a warm climate will predispose us to a lower metabolic expenditure (2).
Two factors that the INSIDE Medical Team considers especially relevant and on which we always advise our patients, were also analyzed: following the Mediterranean Diet and physical activity.
Interestingly, comparing ourselves with the rest of Spain, our way of eating was not significantly different. Although the rate of followers of the Mediterranean Diet was not as high as one would expect; therefore there is room for improvement in the whole country;Andalusians do not eat worse than the rest of the Spaniards.
However, there was a difference in the performed physical activity; the prevalence of subjects who perform physical activity of medium or high intensity compared to the rest of Spain was significantly lower (3).
If we take into account that 80% of all heart diseases and up to 90% of all heart attacks could be prevented with a healthier lifestyle, we should encourage ourselves to include physical activity to improve our health.
Walking, running, cycling, climbing, high-intensity anaerobic exercises … adapted to our physical condition, which must be evaluated by a multidisciplinary team of health professionals, to advise the best type of exercise for each person.
Practicing sports is healthy, want to join?
- www.ine.es
- Valdés S, Maldonado-Araque C, García-Torres F, Goday A, Bosch-Comas A, Bordiú E, Calle-Pascual A, Carmena R, Casamitjana R, Castaño L, Castell C, Catalá M, Delgado E, Franch J, Gaztambide S, Girbés J, Gomis R, Gutiérrez G, López-Alba A, Martínez-Larrad M, Menéndez E, Mora-Peces I, Ortega E, Pascual-Manich G, Serrano-Rios M, Urrutia I, Vázquez JA, Vendrell J, Soriguer F, Rojo-Martínez G. Ambient temperature and prevalence of obesity in the Spanish population: The Di@bet.es study. Obesity (Silver Spring). 2014 Nov;22(11):2328-32.
- Valdés S, García-Torres F, Maldonado-Araque C, Goday A, Calle-Pascual A, Soriguer F, Castaño L, Catalá M, Gomis R, Rojo-Martínez G; Di@bet.es study group. Prevalence of obesity, diabetes and other cardiovascular risk factors in Andalusia (southern Spain). Comparison with national prevalence data. The Di@bet.es study. Rev Esp Cardiol (Engl Ed). 2014 Jun;67(6):442-8.
