‘Use heart to act now on angina’: Be alert to angina to save lives
JOBURG – Angina is a symptom of coronary heart disease – the greatest killer across the globe, with close to 18 million deaths in 2016 according to the World Health Organization.
The International pharmaceutical group Servier, together with the World Heart Federation (WHF) and Global Heart Hub, which represents people with heart disease, have launched the ‘Use heart to act now on angina’ campaign.
This worldwide campaign, which is endorsed locally by the SA Heart Association, aims to raise awareness about the symptoms of angina, which are often underestimated, and the importance of acting on them.
The campaign, which was launched during a recent webinar run by the WHF, emphasised that angina was a serious condition that could be difficult to recognise, and that vigilance was crucial in detecting it.
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Angina is a symptom of coronary heart disease – the greatest killer across the globe, with close to 18 million deaths in 2016 according to the World Health Organization. However, angina is still under-recognised and undertreated. One study revealed that 43% of patients who had experienced angina in the past month were under-recognised by doctors as having the condition.
During the webinar, Prof. Roberto Ferrari, former Professor of Cardiology at the Santa Anna University Hospital of Ferrara (now Emeritus), Italy, emphasised that while Covid-19 remained top of mind, the world continued to experience an epidemic of cardiovascular disease – which was now exacerbated by the pandemic and fear of hospital infection with coronavirus.
Ferrari believes that the world will likely only see the real impact of Covid-19 in two to three years, including the impact of resource restriction on urgent non-Covid conditions, and the impact of interrupted care on chronic conditions.
He referred to his research on the worldwide impact of diseases from January to July 2020, showing that while there were 700 000 deaths due to Covid-19 in that period, there were 10.4 million deaths from cardiovascular disease and 5.2 million from cancer.
Ferrari called on doctors and the media to emphasise the safety of going to hospitals, and the need for patients to continue to take and to improve their preventative and anti-angina therapy.
Dr Blanche Cupido, president of the SA Heart Association said, “Patients of varying cultural backgrounds may describe their symptoms of angina in differing ways. Some say chest tightness, others say crushing chest pain; we, therefore, need to listen carefully to the language of the heart. Shortness of breath is also an important symptom. These symptoms must always be investigated more thoroughly because all too often they are missed and underestimated.”
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Cupido said women were especially disadvantaged when it came to coronary heart disease and access to care.
“No-one expects them to have it – but postmenopausal women are at higher risk than men of a similar age. For example, if we see a young or middle-aged female with chest pain, we tend to think gastric as opposed to cardiovascular. We need to listen to our patients and probe more carefully, to gain a clear indication of how many episodes of angina they have had, when they happened and how long they lasted. Do not underestimate this life-limiting condition.”
Cupido concluded by describing angina as an ‘alarm bell’ which is sent to warn people.
“People with angina must consult a doctor – and we must be alert to any indication that a patient may have angina. Not all chest pain is cardiac/angina, but it’s better to be safe than sorry and to investigate it further.”
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