The Russians were offered to save from premature deaths with a word

In the last three years, the attention of the world community has been drawn to the problem of viral infections. However, so far not a single covid has been able to surpass the contribution to the mortality statistics of chronic non-communicable diseases (CNCD), due to which 70-75% of the population in different countries of the world today die. Representatives of the Russian Society for the Prevention of Noncommunicable Diseases believe that today the level of awareness about the risk factors for these diseases, the development of which in most cases can be prevented, is extremely low. And they propose to start a mass educational program on this topic in the country, as well-known doctors announced during a press conference.

According to the WHO, 41 million people die each year from NCDs worldwide, of which more than 15 million die between the ages of 30 and 69. The total damage that NCDs cause to the Russian economy annually is estimated at 2.7 trillion rubles.

The chief physician of Russia, professor, academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences, eyes of the Russian Society for the Prevention of Noncommunicable Diseases (ROPNIZ) Oksana Drapkina emphasizes that most of these deaths are premature: all risk factors for the development of such diseases have long been established in the world. And if some risks are classified as non-modifiable (like age, gender or genetics), then the vast majority of them are modifiable. That is, they can be overcome by being attentive to one’s health (controlling blood pressure, not missing medications prescribed by the doctor, being examined on time) and adherence to a healthy lifestyle (give up bad habits, observe the daily routine, eat right, devote time to physical activity, sleep, etc.).

Professor Drapkina recalls that there are four groups of main NCD killers: cardiovascular, oncological, diabetes mellitus and lung diseases (mainly chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and bronchial asthma): “The road to them leads through well-known risk factors. It is important that people know how to stay healthy. Therefore, it is necessary to improve the medical literacy of the population: so that people understand what to choose in the store, how to move correctly. So that they do not delay their visit to the doctor, it will allow them to detect diseases at an early stage and start their therapy in a timely manner.”

Professor Yury Karpov, Head of the Angiology Department of the Federal State Budgetary Institution National Medical Research Center of Cardiology of the Ministry of Health of Russia, complains that “it turns out that the doctor is obliged to take care of the patient’s health, while the patient himself has no responsibility for the state of his health. People do not always follow the recommendations of doctors. Patients with chronic noncommunicable diseases are tens of millions of people. And many have several pathologies at once, because one NCD can provoke the development of another. With a combination of diseases, the prognosis is suffocated. For example, there are 15 million patients with chronic heart failure, and every second does not know about his diagnosis. 19 million have chronic kidney disease (9 out of 10 do not know about it); 10 million have diabetes (but in half of the cases the diagnosis has not yet been made). But for these three listed pathologies, there is an innovative treatment today, and it is very important that patients follow the recommendations of doctors.”

“Most often we see comorbid patients – they have hypertension, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and elevated glucose levels … Such patients have the highest risk of premature death. But forecasts strongly depend on how people eat, how they move, and whether they follow the recommendations of doctors,” adds Oksana Drapkina.

Meanwhile, Yan Vlasov, co-chairman of the All-Russian Union of Patients, says that almost every Russian patient arranges a “drug vacation” for himself: “People do not believe that something bad can happen to them, and then they end up in hospitals in serious condition. We conducted a study on the dependence of the frequency of exacerbations in patients depending on their adherence to treatment. Initially, adherence was 52%. But after information work with patients, which included constant reminders and requirements for mandatory photo reports on taking medications, adherence increased to 92%, and the number of exacerbations decreased by 12 times! Some regions make SMS mailings with reminders to patients, in a number of clinics they arrange phone calls to patients. But the shortage of doctors in primary care today is almost 40%, so public health and prevention centers, patient organizations and medical volunteers should be involved in informing patients.”

… The third most common cause of death in the world is chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD); with 1 in 5 patients dying within a year of the first hospitalization for an exacerbation. “In our country, respiratory diseases occupy 4-5th place in the structure of causes of death,” says the country’s chief pulmonologist, head of the Department of Pulmonology at Sechenov University, Academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences Sergey Avdeev. “And the main cause of COPD is smoking, a preventable risk factor.”

Academician Avdeev says that in Russia there are approximately 10 million patients with bronchial asthma – but 8.5 million of them have not yet been diagnosed: “It takes 8 years before a diagnosis of bronchial asthma is made from the moment a patient first develops shortness of breath; in half of the cases, the diagnosis is made when the patient enters the hospital with an exacerbation. Shortness of breath and difficulty breathing can be both a symptom of damage to the lungs and the heart, and sometimes anemia – when such symptoms appear, it is better not to risk it and consult a doctor.

Yuri Karpov adds that when complaints of severe shortness of breath, fatigue, and edema appear, patients in most cases still turn to doctors: “But there are diseases that last for a long time without complaints, for example, chronic kidney disease – it can be detected in a timely manner only with timely analyses. Sometimes we learn about this diagnosis by accident: when assessing kidney function, for example, to prescribe some kind of medicine. Diabetes also runs without symptoms for a long time: it can be detected using a simple glucose test. But people here are rarely interested in whether everything is in order with their health.”

Yan Vlasov believes that over the past 30 years our society has lost a culture of health: “No one works with patients in this regard, there are no programs that provide the full amount of information for them. And the population has developed legal nihilism: the patient knows what he is owed. No one knows that there is a law on the obligations of the patient, in particular, to follow the instructions of the attending physician.”

Experts believe that informing patients is one of the most important areas of healthcare, and they very much hope to significantly change the situation with NCDs in the country with its help.