TEHRAN — Two per 100 people suffer congestive heart failure in Iran, Iranian electrophysiologist Masoud Eslami has said, IRIB reported on Sunday.

Heart failure, also known as congestive heart failure, occurs when your heart muscle doesn't pump blood as well as it should. Certain conditions, such as narrowed arteries in your heart (coronary artery disease) or high blood pressure, gradually leave your heart too weak or stiff to fill and pump efficiently.

Shortness of breath when you exert yourself or when you lie down, fatigue and weakness, swelling (edema) in your legs, ankles and feet, rapid or irregular heartbeat, reduced ability to exercise, persistent cough or wheezing with white or pink blood-tinged phlegm, increased need to urinate at night, swelling of your abdomen (ascites), very rapid weight gain from fluid retention, lack of appetite and nausea, difficulty concentrating or decreased alertness, sudden, and severe shortness of breath and coughing up pink, foamy mucus are among the symptoms of heart failure. 

Deputy head of national committee for non-communicable diseases and deputy health minister for educational affairs Mohammad Baqer Larijani has also said that some one third of Iranians are suffering from high blood pressure, Fars news agency reported on Saturday. 

While heart failure can be derived from high blood pressure it seems highly likely for a great deal of Iranians to develop the condition.

In a news piece published on July second Maryam Hazrati deputy health minister for nursing has said that some 82 percent of deaths in Iran are linked with the main types of non-communicable diseases (NCDs) including cardiovascular diseases (like heart attacks and stroke), cancers, chronic respiratory diseases (such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and asthma) and diabetes.

This would make heart diseases one of the leading causes of the death in the country. As per the official figures revealed by Ministry of Health between 33 and 39 percent of deaths in Iran are caused by heart diseases, Salamat News website reported on October 2017. The report stated that every day on average some 300 Iranians die of heart diseases.

Lifestyle changes such as taking exercise, reducing sodium in diet, managing stress and losing weight can improve your quality of life.

One way to prevent heart failure is to prevent and control conditions that cause heart failure, such as coronary artery disease, high blood pressure, diabetes or obesity.

According to Medline Plus website there are heart disease risk factors that you cannot change. One of factors is age meaning that your risk of heart disease increases as you get older. You gender is another risk factor. Some risk factors may affect heart disease risk differently in women than in men.

Additionally certain groups have higher risks than others. African Americans are more likely than whites to have heart disease, while Hispanic Americans are less likely to have it. Some Asian groups, such as East Asians, have lower rates, but South Asians have higher rates.

An last but not least you have a greater risk if you have a close family member who had heart disease at an early age.

But by controlling your blood pressure, keeping your cholesterol and triglyceride levels under control, staying at a healthy weight, eating a healthy diet, getting regular exercise, not smoking, managing stress, managing diabetes, and making sure that you get enough sleep are the things you can do to lower my risk of heart disease.

MQ/MG