One in 7 people over the age of 65 suffer from heart failure, according to a US scientist

One in 7 people over the age of 65 currently suffers from heart failure in countries such as the USA and Spain. This was pointed out at the University of Navarra by Dr. Karl T. Weber, director of the Division of Cardiovascular Diseases of the School of Medicine of the University of Tennessee (USA), who added that this figure could rise to "one in 5 people in a very short time". Professor Karl T. Weber spoke at the symposium "Frontiers in Cardiovascular research " as part of conference on Biomedicine held at campus in Pamplona on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of School of Medicine.

For this expert, "heart failure is becoming epidemic, especially in the elderly population". In the face of this, prevention is core topic : "Control blood pressure, per diem expenses, blood lipid concentrations, smoking and, in general, have good medical care," he said.

Regarding the symptoms presented by this ailment, he said that "there are some that greatly deteriorate the quality of life of patients, such as the sensation of suffocation -especially when exercising- and swelling of the legs and ankles". 

30% to 40% of patients with myocardial infarction die before reaching the hospital.

Dr. Karl T. Weber said that the current treatment of heart failure "improves the quality of life of patients and prolongs their survival. But he specified that in the future one of the lines of work will consist of "identifying people at risk of developing heart failure by means of research on substances in the blood that can act as biomarkers of this ailment in the future". In this regard, he stressed that at the research center Applied Medicine (CIMA) of the University of Navarra "there is a unique opportunity to make this subject of programs of study".

Javier Díez, director of area of Cardiovascular Physiopathology at the Center, explained that this is one of his main lines of research work: "To identify substances that, with a simple measurement, indicate that the cardiac muscle is deteriorating and that, therefore, action must be taken before the patient develops symptoms".

For his part, Eduardo De Teresa, president of the Spanish Society of Cardiology, spoke of childhood obesity as one of the most worrying risk factors, which "will lead to more heart disease in the future". He also referred to myocardial infarction: "There are many ways to treat the patient as long as he or she reaches us in time. But 30% or 40% die before they reach the hospital". For this expert, the figure is significant, "if we compare mortality with other pathologies that currently concern us more, such as cancer".

As part of the events held on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the School of Medicine, the 6th Eduardo Ortiz de Landázuri Memorial Lecture will be read at position by Rolf M. Zinkernagel, award Nobel Prize in Medicine and Physiology in 1996. The events will conclude with the presentation of a book and a DVD on the history of the School of Medicine.