Dubai Hospital promotes World Heart Day

Delayed until after the Holy month of Ramadan, and held in Mercato Mall (12th-16th November), the aim is to raise awareness of cardiovascular risk factors and promote healthy living. The event is being held in conjunction with Nicotinell, the market leader in smoking cessation products.

Representatives from the Cardiology and Cardiothoracic Surgery Department will be on hand offering advice on keeping your heart healthy by choosing a good diet, being physically active and not smoking. Controlling these risk factors can prevent heart attacks and strokes and may help the heart to age more slowly.

Cutting out smoking is key if you wish to keep the heart young and vigorous. To assist people in quitting smoking, Nicotinell will be offering free consultations featuring the Smokerlyzer test. The test is quick and non-invasive and provides readings of the level of carbon monoxide in the body within seconds.

Dr Layla al Marzouqi, Cardiologist at Dubai Hospital said "The response has been phenomenal - in 6 hours more than 200 people have had their cholesterol, blood sugar and carbon monoxide levels tested. Some of them have been referred to their physician as they were high risk but didn't even know it. This is such a great way of raising public awareness; we should have more of these events."

Carbon monoxide is a colourless, odourless and tasteless gas that is just one of the 4000 poisons found in cigarette smoke. When inhaled, the gas enters the blood stream and combines with the haemoglobin cells, blocking the blood's ability to carry oxygen around the body to the organs and cells.

The test shows any one of three colours:

Green - signals that levels of carbon monoxide are low
Yellow - indicates moderate levels
Red - carbon monoxide has reached dangerous levels

A recent analysis by Novartis found that 17% of 'moderate smokers' measured in the red zone. Dr al Marzouqi added "people stop listening when being told to stop smoking, but this test shocks them into making changes when they see how much money and time they've thrown away."

Visual proof of the effect of cigarettes on their health makes "smokers more aware of the risks of coronary heart disease, arteriosclerosis and chronic respiratory disease. Seeing the results of the test should help to encourage and motivate smokers to give up" said Rany Victor, spokesperson of Nicotinell, Novartis Consumer Health.

Mr. Victor continued: "It is a bad indication that more than half of those reported in the 'yellow' zone are between the ages of 20 to 30. This raises major concerns as most of these young smokers are bound to reach the danger zone if they continue their heavy intake of the toxins found in cigarettes. The results will certainly shock moderate smokers who seem to believe they are far from harm as they do not smoke heavily. However, the Smokerlyzer test has revealed that even moderate smokers still have unsafe carbon monoxide levels in the body."

For anyone who enjoys smoking shisha, this has proven to be as harmful and addictive as cigarette smoking, as it contains the same chemicals such as nicotine and tar. With a 60-80 minute shisha session being equivalent to smoking up to 100 cigarettes - many shisha smokers absorb more carbon monoxide than cigarette smokers.

Results of Nicotinell's educational promotion also unearthed some social and moderate smokers in the red zone, as the levels of carbon monoxide also depend on how hard and for how long a person inhales the cigarette. This highlights how important it is for any smoker to give up. Once the decision has been made to kick the habit, and the smoker has refrained from smoking, carbon monoxide levels in the body decrease immediately.

The next step is to get rid of the Nicotine cravings.

Nicotine Replacement Therapy products like patches and gums are best suited to tackle this, as they not only provide a physical solution by weaning the smoker from the nicotine addiction, but also boost their willpower by giving them back control over their lives.

Leaving them with a younger, healthier heart.