from the industry: in the face of an overloaded health-care system, it’s time to transform heart health

every five minutes, one canadian dies from heart conditions, stroke or vascular cognitive impairment . these conditions contribute to the leading cause of death in canada yet, premature heart disease and stroke are largely preventable .

the ripple effect triggered by those suffering from these conditions has caused a significant strain on our health-care system. and the impact on patients and society is immense. in canada, it is estimated that cardiovascular disease (cvd) costs approximately $22 billion a year ; not only is it considered the second leading contributor to national health-care costs, it remains one of the top causes of hospitalization .

atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ascvd) is the leading driver of cvd and the principal cause of ischemic heart disease, ischemic stroke, and peripheral arterial disease. heart attacks and strokes are responsible for 85 per cent of cvd deaths globally , in addition to high rates of hospitalization, significant disability, and increased health care costs.  risk factors include hypertension, diabetes, high blood lipids, an unhealthy diet, obesity, physical inactivity, tobacco use and excessive alcohol consumption.

with the onset of the covid-19 pandemic, the issues regarding the strain that cvd imposes on our health-care system have only compounded. a recent world health organization (who) study found the pandemic led to severe global disruptions in health care for noncommunicable diseases , including cardiovascular emergencies. this has produced a backlog in the need for secondary prevention, or followup care to prevent future heart attacks and strokes in people at elevated risk, either because of a previous incident or a cvd diagnosis.

with this in mind, last fall, founding partner novartis pharmaceuticals canada inc. invited and convened peer organizations across the canadian ecosystem, including the canadian cardiovascular society , for the biome cvd summit .  the goal of the summit was to bring cardiovascular disease mortality to the forefront of public discourse and to identify the main actionable challenges posed by cvd, with the aim of long-term mortality reductions by 2025.