Cardiac rehabilitation in the Republic of Croatia: where are we and where are we going?

    Authors

    Abstract

    In Europe, more than 4 million people die each year due to cardiovascular diseases (CVD). In the Republic of Croatia in 2016, CVDs had taken the share of 44.99% (23,190 people) in overall mortality; 50.14% of them were women and 39.67% were men. In the last thirty years, mortality of CVD has been halved. This can be attributed to changes in population risk factors, primarily to reduction of cholesterol, blood pressure and smoking. This favourable trend could have been even better if not being partly compensated by the growth of the other risk factors, mostly diabetes type 2 and obesity. Approach to the total preventive and comprehensive rehabilitation measures in patients with developed CVD with the aim of achieving maximum health, personal, family and social sufficiency as well as preventing a new cardiovascular event, are the main tasks of organized secondary health prevention activities. If implemented successfully, they lead to a significant increase in survival, improvement of quality of life, reduction of the need for interventional, surgical or percutaneous interventions, with a significant reduction in overall social and economic burden. (1-3) Additional efforts are needed in order to bring the number of outpatient and stationary cardiac rehabilitation centers to the level of the current needs in the Republic of Croatia. During the lecture presentation, it will be discussed how and where to open new cardiac rehabilitation centers in the Republic of Croatia.

    Keywords

    cardiovascular diseases, cardiac rehabilitation, secondary prevention

    DOI

    https://doi.org/10.15836/ccar2018.429

    Literature

    1. Peršić V, Boban M. Almanac 2014: stable coronary artery disease. Cardiol Croat. 2014;9(1):53–9. https://doi.org/10.15836/ccar.2014.53
    2. Davies EJ, Moxham T, Rees K, Singh S, Coats AJ, Ebrahim S, et al. Exercise based rehabilitation for heart failure. Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2010 Apr 14; (4):CD003331. https://doi.org/10.1002/14651858.CD003331.pub3
    3. Peršić V, Boban M, Laškarin G, Pehar-Pejčinović V, Miletić B, Brozina A, et al. Suvremeni programi kardiološke rehabilitacije u globalnom bremenu kardiovaskularnih bolesti. Medicina Fluminensis. 2012;48;4:395-402. Available from: (October 20, 2018). https://hrcak.srce.hr/95725
    Cardiologia Croatica
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    Cardiac rehabilitation in the Republic of Croatia: where are we and where are we going?

    Extended Abstract
    Issue11-12
    Published
    Pages429
    PDF via DOIhttps://doi.org/10.15836/ccar2018.429
    cardiovascular diseases
    cardiac rehabilitation
    secondary prevention

    Authors

    Viktor Peršić*ORCIDKlinika za liječenje rehabilitaciju i prevenciju bolesti srca i krvnih žila Thalassoterapia Opatija, Opatija, Hrvatska

    *Correspondence email: viktor.persic@medri.uniri.hr

    Abstract

    In Europe, more than 4 million people die each year due to cardiovascular diseases (CVD). In the Republic of Croatia in 2016, CVDs had taken the share of 44.99% (23,190 people) in overall mortality; 50.14% of them were women and 39.67% were men. In the last thirty years, mortality of CVD has been halved. This can be attributed to changes in population risk factors, primarily to reduction of cholesterol, blood pressure and smoking. This favourable trend could have been even better if not being partly compensated by the growth of the other risk factors, mostly diabetes type 2 and obesity. Approach to the total preventive and comprehensive rehabilitation measures in patients with developed CVD with the aim of achieving maximum health, personal, family and social sufficiency as well as preventing a new cardiovascular event, are the main tasks of organized secondary health prevention activities. If implemented successfully, they lead to a significant increase in survival, improvement of quality of life, reduction of the need for interventional, surgical or percutaneous interventions, with a significant reduction in overall social and economic burden. (1-3) Additional efforts are needed in order to bring the number of outpatient and stationary cardiac rehabilitation centers to the level of the current needs in the Republic of Croatia. During the lecture presentation, it will be discussed how and where to open new cardiac rehabilitation centers in the Republic of Croatia.

    Literature

    1. 1.
      Peršić V, Boban M. Almanac 2014: stable coronary artery disease. Cardiol Croat. 2014;9(1):53–9.DOI
    2. 2.
      Davies EJ, Moxham T, Rees K, Singh S, Coats AJ, Ebrahim S, et al. Exercise based rehabilitation for heart failure. Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2010 Apr 14; (4):CD003331.DOI
    3. 3.
      Peršić V, Boban M, Laškarin G, Pehar-Pejčinović V, Miletić B, Brozina A, et al. Suvremeni programi kardiološke rehabilitacije u globalnom bremenu kardiovaskularnih bolesti. Medicina Fluminensis. 2012;48;4:395-402. Available from: (October 20, 2018).Link