Unhealthy lifestyle blamed for rise in heart disease
Participants at a Heart Symposium hosted by Aga Khan University on March 2, 2017. PHOTO | EUNICE KILONZO | NATION MEDIA GROUP
The number of Kenyans dying from heart diseases is on the rise due to an increase in income that has led to sedentary lifestyles.
Prof Michael Chung, the Chair Department of Medicine at the Aga Khan University Hospital said most people are becoming obese or diabetic for failing to exercise.
He said the situation is made worse by high alcohol and tobacco intake as well as having too much salt in meals.
Such unhealthy habits are putting Kenyans at risk of cardiovascular diseases, which can be fatal as well as other complications such as high blood pressure that at times leads to organ failure.
The revelations were made at the Heart Symposium hosted by the Aga Khan University in Nairobi.
The two day heart symposium has brought together specialists in cardiology, infectious disease, nephrologists, neurologists and other health practitioners from East and Central Africa.
The conference, whose theme is ‘The Heart in Medicine’, will address the inter-relation between heart disease and other ailments.
The symposium will also address management of heart disease alongside other diseases such as HIV, kidney failure, diabetes, cancer and respiratory infections.
