Ireland has been ranked 12th among 30 countries in a new European index measuring heart care.
The Euro Heart Index 2016 (EHI), published today, said France was the champion, closely followed by Norway and Sweden.
It found heart care had improved in almost every country but there were gaps across Europe.
If there was equal access to basic heart medication tens of thousands of lives would be saved.
"In heart care, Ireland shares a problematic pattern with many European countries," Dr Beatriz Cebolla, EHI Director, said.
"The unhealthy lifestyle in the general population; with a rather high alcohol and sugar consumption and a small intake of vegetable and fruits and with a high percentage of the population having high blood pressure.
"The number of people being obese is quite alarming, not only among the adult population but also among children.
"The system works efficiently and coordinated, offering good services but with some problems because of the notorious waiting list problems."
Chairman, Prof Arne Björnberg, said: "In heart care, there is a significant gap between European guidelines on how to treat patients, and how cardiac care is performed.
"The deployment of basic, cheap heart medicines seems haphazard, hardly reflecting the needs of the Europeans."
He added that "more systematic use of therapies such as statins and clopidogrel would save thousands of lives".
Irish Independent
No comments:
Post a Comment