CANADA: Healthy Lfestyles Critical For Healthy Hearts

VANCOUVER (International Council on Active Ageing), February 1, 2008: Older adults are at a high risk of cardiovascular disease (National Institute on Aging), but they are also able to dramatically lower that risk with a healthy lifestyle. “February is Heart Month in the United States and Canada,” points out Colin Milner, CEO of International Council on Active Aging (ICAA), an association that supports professionals who develop wellness and fitness facilities and services for age 50-plus adults. Preventing cardiovascular diseases that are more likely as people age (including coronary heart disease, stroke, high blood pressure, heart failure and peripheral arterial disease) is often a matter of lifestyle choices: regular exercise, healthy diet, healthy weight, not smoking, keeping blood pressure and cholesterol at normal levels, and controlling diabetes. “Older adults can’t control their age or a family history of heart disease, but the rest of these risk factors can be managed,” explains Milner. “And, even if a person does have heart disease, these same lifestyle choices are what physicians recommend for regaining their health.” Another controllable factor is the response to a person who has sudden cardiac arrest, an electrical malfunction of the heart that disrupts the heart’s normal rhythm. If untreated, sudden cardiac arrest can result in death within minutes. In the US, 900 people die every day due to sudden cardiac arrest, according to the American Heart Association. A bystander who quickly responds can double the person’s chance of survival (American Heart Association). A quick response means calling 911 for emergency medical services, immediately delivering cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR), applying defibrillation, and then stepping aside for emergency medical personnel to take over. To deliver the tools professionals need to educate older adults about heart health, ICAA has partnered with Philips Healthcare, provider of HeartStart Defibrillators (www.philips.com/heartstart), which are used to provide treatment for sudden cardiac arrest. “Heart disease is a particular concern as we age,” explains Milner. “The good news is you can lower the risks of heart disease at any age. And you can find plenty of support for lifestyle changes at seniors centers, retirement communities, fitness and wellness centers.” Copyright 2006 ICAA