Was founded the “Club cardiosaludable Riojano”, an initiative of Hospital Viamed Los Manzanos in collaboration with the Caja Rioja Foundation.

The objective is to promote a meeting place for patients and people interested in information on the prevention of cardiovascular disease but by suffering from first-person, or have affected families and to prevent the consequences of a disease that causes more mortality in industrialized countries. The first event will take place today, Tuesday, January 18, at 19.30 hours, which will be discussed on the ‘ percutaneous aortic prosthesis. A hope for the future ’, in charge of the cardiovascular surgeon Ignacio Gallo, Chief of Cardiovascular Surgery and hemodynamics of the Hospital Viamed Los Manzanos service.

The doctor will speak about one of the most innovative techniques in the cardiovascular surgery for the establishment of prosthetics without having to resort to traditional surgery and that he used with great success recently to introduce an aortic prosthesis to a Riojan of 84 years in Hospital Viamed Los Manzanos. This type of intervention with latest generation material and have started to apply is barely a year, they are very costly economically and indicated in patients, but by old age or other medical circumstances, is not suitable riding traditional intervention.

The rest of meetings of the ‘ Club cardiosaludable Riojano ’, only in La Rioja, are the days of February 1, February 8, March 15, March 29 and April 5 and it shall be composed of lectures and workshops. The conferences, as well as classrooms, will have a sign language interpreter to facilitate accessibility for people with hearing disabilities to them.

In La Rioja, if we analyse the mortality by age, we note that cardiovascular diseases are among the three leading causes of death in the age group of 45 to 54 years, men, and from 65 to 74 years for women. After 75 years, these diseases occupy first place in both sexes.

According to the latest study published on the risk factors in La Rioja, is 50 per cent of diagnosed patients do not adequately control their life habits. Thus emerges from the study by 56.4% showed values colesterolemia high (61% male, 52 per cent women); 46.3% had high blood pressure (53.4% male and 32.4 per cent women); they were smoking 31.8% (39% men and 25% women) and almost half the population was sedentary, being more this situation in women (61%) than men (42%). 12.3% Of the women and 13.5 per cent of men had obesity. The autonomous community of La Rioja, according to data from the national survey, more than the national average in childhood obesity and overweight in adulthood.

At least 36.9% of the population had a modifiable risk factor. Because of the ageing of the population and the persistence of risk factors, morbidity and mortality for a cardiovascular episode will increase over the coming decades, according to experts. And despite the knowledge of cardiovascular risk factors various studies show that the control of them is far from optimal.

Currently, the Caja Rioja Foundation and Hospital Viamed Los Manzanos develop monthly the ‘ health classroom ’, with the goal of making clear the commitment of these two institutions with the Riojan society and their health; bring health professionals to the people in an environment more close and direct; wake up and increase in Rioja the concern for the care and prevention of health information.

The cycle, which this year celebrates its third edition, is made up of eight conference scheduled for September 2010 to April 2011, and covers subjects as diverse and interesting as flu in chronic illness, children and TV, sleep apnea, Gynecologic Cancer, diabetes and eye, life after heart surgery, plastic surgery or the importance of stepping well.