The choice of lifestyle is crucial for the development of heart diseases, and giving up smoking and alcohol consumption, as well as maintaining a healthy diet and exercising, are ways of reducing the incidence of those diseases by 70-80 percent, experts said on the occasion of World Heart Day, to be marked on Saturday across Croatia.

In 2017, 23,504 people died of heart disease in Croatia, which is 44 percent of all people who died that year. Heart diseases are a leading cause of mortality, and World Heart Day provides an opportunity for experts to call on members of the public to adopt healthy lifestyles.

The head of the Croatian Cardiac Society, Davor Milicic, said that 55 percent of those suffering from some form of heart disease were women, but that they, as a result of protection by reproductive hormones, die, on average, ten years later than men.

Croatian Public Health Institute (HZJZ) head Krunoslav Capak said that the purpose of World Heart Day is to raise awareness that cardiovascular diseases are preventable and that, with small changes to lifestyle, a lot can be achieved.

In order to protect heart health, people should not smoke, they should lead a more active lifestyle, adopt a healthy diet and maintain an ideal weight, he said, adding that early diagnosis and treatment of high blood pressure and diabetes also play a role in preventing heart disease.

In the period between 2000 and 2016, a significant drop in mortality was reported in Croatia, which is a good sign. However, risk factors are still rather widespread – unhealthy diet, obesity, smoking, excessive alcohol consumption and inactivity, he said.

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