The German Heart Foundation welcomes the planned measures for the prevention of cardiovascular diseases in the new "Healthy Heart Act". A healthy lifestyle is crucial, but many risk factors, such as coronary heart disease (CHD), require additional drug or interventional therapy. The high mortality rate from CHD, with over 120,000 deaths per year, shows the urgent need for action. The law promotes early detection and secondary prevention, including disease management programmes (DMP) for high-risk patients. The fact that preventive measures are to begin in childhood and adolescence is a "particularly important and overdue step", says Prof Heribert Schunkert, DZHK scientist and Deputy Chairman of the German Heart Foundation. It also intensifies tobacco cessation. Early detection of familial hypercholesterolaemia (FH) is particularly important. FH is a hereditary metabolic disorder in which LDL cholesterol is not broken down properly, which can lead to arteriosclerosis and heart attacks even in middle age. "Around one in 250 children in Germany is born with FH. With the help of a simple blood test as part of a lipid screening by a paediatrician, we were able to identify more than 200 families with FH in just three years in Bavaria, for example, and provide them with important information on disease prevention and offer guideline-based therapy - which protects against early heart attacks," says Schunkert.
This is a heavily shortened version of the press release by the German Heart Foundation.
Link to the original article: press release German Heart Foundation (in German only)