Ignoring cholesterol risks could be a heartbreaker

Date: Nov. 5, 1999
Time: 12:29 pm

A recently released survey on European attitudes toward heart disease determined that only 45% of more than 5100 adults surveyed knew that heart disease was the leading killer in their country, but Canadian experts warn North Americans likely share the same attitude.

"We know that there is widespread undertreatment of patients with clinically established coronary heart disease (CHD) throughout Canada," said Dr. J George Fodor of the University of Ottawa Heart Institute. "The European survey reinforces the need to raise heart health awareness among Canadians."

Pharmaceutical giants Parke-Davis and Pfizer commissioned the public attitude survey, which was conducted in France, Germany, Italy, Sweden and Great Britain from July to September. In addition to not knowing how widespread heart disease was in their country, almost half of the respondents (46%) felt they ran little, if any, risk of developing heart disease.

"These findings reinforce the need for increased public awareness of the risks of high cholesterol," said Dr. Jacques Genest Jr., director of the Cardiovascular Genetics Laboratory at the Clinical Research Institute of Montreal. "The findings also underscore the value of, and need for, improved dialogue between physicians and patients to increase the implementation of guidelines."

Both Fodor and Genest are part of a Canadian group of experts that developed more stringent guidelines for the treatment of patients with high cholesterol last year. The guidelines, published in the Canadian Journal of Cardiology, have not yet been approved by Health Canada.

"The practical implementation of treatment guidelines remains the most important task for physicians in CHD prevention," added Dr. Fodor.

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