The main risk factors for chronic diseases are unhealthy diet, lack of physical activity, smoking and harmful use of alcohol. Photo: Associação Catarinense de Medicina/Disclosure

There is no doubt: the great legacy that everyone has been waiting for after three years of the pandemic is called prevention. It has never been more important to value health care, prevent disease and save lives, protect the body and mind in order to enjoy the achievement of longevity.

The ACM (Associação Catarinense de Medicina) not only learned its lesson, but decided to take the plunge to help shape health policy, whether in the public or private sphere. Thus, after carrying out countless actions in the face of Covid-19, the medical institution did not wait for the new norm and prepared the Santa Catarina Health Card, a study to be launched in the second half of the year, covering 20 micro-regions of the state.

The survey, conducted through the Instituto Mapa, revealed the incidence and distribution of major risk and protection factors for chronic noncommunicable diseases in the adult population, stratified by sex, age group, education and socioeconomic status. The importance of content is so significant that ACM is already planning an annual index capable of tracking progress or deterioration in each region, with periodic updates of the data collected in the first edition of the study.

The president of the organization, radiologist Ademar José de Oliveira Páez Júnior, highlights the potential of the Card. “Talking about prevention is nothing new, but doing prevention is also. This is one of the biggest health problems that can now count on new medical tools to help take care of people before illness occurs.

As one of Santa Catarina’s largest partners in protecting quality of life, ACM wants to help advance knowledge and innovation strategically and on a health-science basis to deliver needed health advances across the state.” .

Chronic diseases cause the most deaths

The WHO (World Health Organization) estimates that NCDs (chronic non-communicable diseases) are responsible for the majority of deaths in the world. With the increasing burden of these diseases, Brazil’s epidemiological profile is changing as a result of urbanization, lifestyle changes and globalization. In Brazil, DANTs (Non-Communicable Diseases and Injuries) are responsible for more than half of all deaths.

In recent years, approximately 54% of the deaths reported in the country were due to NCDs and 11% to diseases. According to PAHO (Pan American Health Organization), among the main causes of these figures are cardiovascular and respiratory diseases, cancer and diabetes, which are responsible for more than 31 million deaths worldwide every year.

The main risk factors for the development of chronic diseases are malnutrition, physical inactivity, smoking and harmful use of alcohol, which are largely responsible for the epidemic of overweight and obesity, the high prevalence of arterial hypertension and dyslipidemia.

Conducting a study with the Santa Catarina Health Card is in line with the action axis of the Strategic Action Plan for Chronic and Noncommunicable Diseases in Brazil 2021-2030, also known as the DANT Plan, which includes 226 strategic actions to be completed. Department of Health, States, Federal District and Municipalities, in addition to 23 targets and outcome indicators to monitor the impact of actions. The plan is a guide to preventing risk factors and promoting public health, with the aim, inter alia, of addressing health inequalities.

Increased risk factors

Adémar José de Oliveira Páez Júnior, President of ACM: The organization wants to promote health knowledge and innovation in a strategic way – Photo: Associação Catarinense de Medicina/Disclosure

• Globally, trends in risk factors, especially obesity, are increasing in developing countries.
• Unhealthy diet, lack of physical activity and smoking remain the main risk behaviors.
• The main biological risk factors arise and operate at an early age and continue to have a negative impact over the years. They may continue to affect the health of the next generation.
• Among older people, risk factors deserve increased attention and can be changed in the short to medium term.
• Interventions are effective, but they must go beyond individual risk factors and continue throughout life.