Today, with the knowledge we have we can say without mistaken fear that many of these deaths could be prevented if measures were put in place health promotion and prevention of cardiovascular disease, which have been shown to be effective.
In man the leading cause of cancer death in our country is the bronchial cancer and lung cancer, with mortality rates of 54 per 100,000 inhabitants. One of the measures to be taken to dramatically reduce mortality from lung cancer is smoking cessation . It has been shown repeatedly that the abandonment of snuff is a huge benefit.
Currently the implementation of systematic prevention activities in the field of Primary Health Care is based on the realization of a periodic health examination. This is the application of various measures of health promotion and disease prevention with appropriate intervals to age and sex of those whom they are addressed.
Traditionally, and until well into the decade of 70, the preventive screenings, also called checks, were performed with a fixed frequency, usually annually. As the epidemiological and clinical studies provided more accurate data about the natural history of disease, became known periods of vulnerability (susceptibility to suffer a particular disease) and was opting for periodic reviews of health. In some cases the application of a preventive measure may be indicated on an annual basis and in others can be performed with longer intervals. Sometimes, however, the variables age and sex alone can not justify taking a preventative measure, so it is necessary to identify groups that share a number of features that increase the likelihood of developing a certain disease. It is in this way does the concept of risk.
The high-risk groups may be determined for reasons as diverse as genetic conditions, the presence of preexisting conditions, personal habits or behavior or simply belonging to a population with a large frequency of the disease.
In this article we will address the following activities of health promotion and disease prevention that can benefit men older than 40 years:
- Detection of smoking and smoking cessation advice.
- Detection of hypertension or high blood pressure.
- Screening for cholesterol or high blood cholesterol.
- Other activities.
is estimated that in US smokes about one in three people, and among the population over 40 years smoke one in two people. We also know people who smoke more than upper middle class (about 45%) and those living in big cities.
Today it is indisputable that smoking is the most common preventable cause of premature death in developed countries. In europe die each year some 40,000 people from diseases directly related to snuff, among which ischemic heart disease by obstruction of the coronary arteries that are supplying the heart muscle, lung cancer, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease of the bronchi and blood vessel disease of the brain.
It has been shown that the degree of awareness of people about the harmful effects of snuff is low. For this reason the physician should undertake the following tasks on their patients:
- Question all patients about their smoking
- Advise all smokers to quit
- Helping those who want to quit to get
- Agree monitoring visits.
Detection of hypertension or high blood pressure
Hypertension is defined as a sustained elevation of blood pressure levels above those considered normal and, at this time, because of the evidence accumulated by numerous scientific studies over in recent years, is set at 140/90 mmHg (or millimeters of mercury).
We know for a fact that this disease is a risk factor of prime importance for the heart and blood vessels. Currently one in three adults have this disease.
The benefits of treatment have been clearly established and proven in numerous medical studies. At present it is recommended to measure and record blood pressure of blood every two years in men older than 40 years. In cases in which blood pressure is kept high so many records, often require treatment and medical follow-up long term.
Cholesterol or high blood cholesterol
Numerous scientifi