Leading specialists for cardiovascular diseases and public health officials on Thursday called for a national plan for the prevention of cardiovascular diseases, which are the leading cause of death in Croatia and the EU, with Croatia's mortality rate being significantly above the EU average.

The national plan should contain guidelines for prevention, diagnostics, treatment and rehabilitation, it was said at a round table discussion organised to raise awareness of diseases affecting the cardiovascular system.

“Every year more than 20,000 people die of cardiovascular diseases in our country,” Croatian Public Health Institute (HZJZ) director Krunoslav Capak said, noting that the situation was exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The European Commission has recognised this problem and supported a European plan for cardiovascular health, which is aimed at reducing the number of premature deaths by one-third until 2030.

“We hope Croatia will soon take the course set by the EU,” Capak said, warning that the mortality rate related to cardiovascular diseases in Croatia is above the EU average.

The EU average is 367.6 deaths per 100,000 population, while in Croatia it is 572.8 deaths per 100,000 population.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, a drop in the number of hospitalisations of cardiovascular patients has been reported.

“The number of hospitalisations has dropped by 19%. We still do not know what the situation will be like because of patients whose condition has not been diagnosed due to the pandemic,” warned HZJZ official Verica Kralj.

The head of the Health Ministry’s Directorate for Primary Healthcare and Medical Tourism, Ivana Portolan-Pajic, said that the ministry supported the adoption of the new national plan.

Capak: Vaccine against new Omicron subvariants will come soon

Commenting on the coronavirus epidemic, Capak said that a new, adapted vaccine against the currently dominant Omicron subvariants BA.4 and BA.5 would soon arrive in Croatia as the existing adapted vaccine targets the original Wuhan strain and the Omicron subvariant BA.1.

“We expect it to enhance protection but there is no 100% protection,” he said.

In a comment on WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus’ statement that the end of the COVID pandemic was in sight, Capak said that it was difficult to predict anything in that regard.

“If a new variant appears, we could again have problems, a new wave with high mortality,” Capak said, noting that the WHO had also warned that the pandemic was still not over and called for great caution.

He attributed the currently favourable situation regarding the pandemic to the vaccine, antiviral drugs as well as the Omicron variant which does not cause severe forms of the disease.

“If Omicron remains dominant, we can count on having to get vaccinated from time to time against its subvariants and get used to living with coronavirus,” said Capak.