1138 Use of nonpharmacological measures in the treatment and prevention of stroke and heart attack

Abstract

Stroke and heart attack rank high on the morbidity and mortality scale both in Croatia and worldwide. As these are diseases from which a part of patients die, a part have lower or higher degree of disability and only a minor part recover completely, the problem of treatment and prevention of these diseases is in the very focus of interest of a large number of researchers. New potential risk factors for cerebrovascular and cardiovascular diseases are discovered on an almost daily basis. It seems that more effort has been invested in the detection of risk factors than in the use of efficient measures for their removal or control. It is by no means infrequently that individuals with a history of stroke or heart attack after the early phase of recovery, resume of smoking habit, fail to follow the principles of healthy nutrition, neglect light physical activity, unnecessarily get exposed to stressful situations or those than cannot be avoided tend to solve in an inappropriate manner, and eventually sustain recurrent stroke or heart attack in spite of regular use of pharmacological agents. Therefore, during patient hospitalization and post hospital follow-up, in addition to the usual control neurological and cardiologic examinations, patients should be provided appropriate assistance in the process of lifestyle modification, in cooperation with their family members, in order to reduce the possibility of the disease recurrence. The professionally justifiable, available and cost-effective non-pharmacological measures that are relevant for both prevention and efficient therapy of Cerebrovascular and cardiovascular diseases are discussed.