DThe number of fatal heart attacks has continued to decline in recent years. In absolute numbers, about 5,900 fewer people died from heart attacks in 2021 than in ten years. By comparison, by 2000 the number of deaths had fallen by about 46,500, according to the report.
The decline is partly due to fewer people smoking, according to the report. Along with high blood pressure and type 2 diabetes, smoking is one of the most important risk factors for heart attack. In addition, there are now better treatment options and more comprehensive care,” explained Holger Thiele, President of the German Society of Cardiology. “We have a lot of new drugs that prevent stents from reclosing,” he gave an example.
Cardiovascular disease is the number one cause of death
It is also critical that education campaigns help people learn more about heart attacks and be able to recognize and diagnose symptoms more quickly, according to the report.
But even though the mortality rate for some cardiovascular diseases is “reducing impressively,” Voigtländer said, including heart failure, many people are still dying. “Overall, cardiovascular diseases are still the number one cause of death in Germany,” the cardiologist said.
In 2021, a total of about 205,600 people died from coronary heart disease, heart valve disease, cardiac arrhythmia, heart failure or birth defects, according to the report. More than 65,000 people die each year from sudden cardiac death alone. Experts stressed that it is therefore vital that more people learn to use chest compressions in emergency situations. “For every minute that a person is not treated with chest compressions after sudden cardiac arrest, the likelihood of survival decreases by ten percent,” the report states.
The lay resuscitation rate has increased from about 14 percent in 2010 to about 46 percent in 2021, according to the information. “We are still in the bottom third of Europe,” Thiele said. This is why, for example, resuscitation lessons should be taught regularly in school.
Source: Frantfurter Allgemeine
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