The first patient version of the European Society of Cardiology (ESC) Guidelines on cardiovascular disease prevention are being presented today at the ESC Congress 2022. The document is based on the longer version aimed at healthcare professionals. It explains how to determine how likely you are to have a heart attack or stroke in the next 10 years, how to change your lifestyle to reduce your risk, and what treatments may be needed based on your current risk level.
ESC President Professor Stephan Achenbach said: “As healthcare professionals, we would like patients to be actively involved in decisions about their care and in fact giving them the right information makes them into even better partners in discussions Developing patient-specific guidelines is one way for ESC to contribute to better patient education by adding a new type of health literacy that informs patients and complements the important work they are already doing the National Societies of Cardiology and patient organizations.”
Regardless of risk, everyone should stop smoking, follow advice on nutrition, body weight and physical activity, and monitor blood pressure. Adults of all ages should get at least 150-300 minutes of moderate-intensity physical activity or 75-150 minutes of vigorous-intensity physical activity per week. The paper advises to stay as active as possible and that some exercise is better than none. A nutritious diet is essential for heart health and the advice is to adopt a Mediterranean or similar diet, that is to say: replace saturated fats (e.g. fast food, red meat) with unsaturated fats (e.g. olive oil, avocado ); reduce salt intake; eat more whole grains, fruits, vegetables and nuts; eat fish at least once a week; drink no more than 100 g of alcohol per week; and reduce your intake of added sugar.
A patient version of the ESC Guidelines for the diagnosis and treatment of acute and chronic heart failure was launched in May. Mr. Richard Mindham, a patient representative at the ESC Patient Forum who was involved in the heart failure guidelines, said: “This simplified version parallels the professional guidelines, explaining the path a patient needs to take together with their diagnosis, treatment and care of heart failure. Consequently, it can help patients understand the whole process they are going through and provide enough information to encourage patients to participate in shared decision-making. With this knowledge, patients can see if they are getting optimal care and ask if there is something they are not being offered, for example one or more of the four drugs known to improve the prognosis of heart failure with reduced ejection fraction or a comprehensive rehabilitation program”.
Project coordinator Professor Tiny Jaarsma explained how the patient versions of the ESC Guides were developed: “We brought together a team of patient representatives, nurses and doctors who had been involved in the development of the professional guide . We started with a blank page and a flexible approach. – we used our knowledge of interacting with patients and writing other materials for patients to consider what they need to know and how to present it. The guidelines chairs of the l “ESC gave their final approval”.
He continued: “We look forward to the support of National Cardiac Societies and healthcare professionals to translate the English versions into their local language in a coordinated manner. We have specifically designed the documents to be easy to adapt, for example with simple graphics . Several countries have already started translating the guidelines, which is great news. We have created a specific dissemination plan for each set of guidelines, as the target populations are very different. For the prevention of cardiovascular disease, we could all use these guidelines. Our ultimate goal now is to take patient guidelines where they can really make a difference: we want every doctor and nurse to be able to give them to every patient.”
Two new sets of patient guidelines are in preparation. Access the guidelines for cardiovascular prevention and heart failure patients here.
Source:
European Society of Cardiology (ESC)