Partners International Cardiovascular Conference concludes with recommendations for strong action

Over 300 doctors were involved in the final session of the conference, which followed three-days of intensive discussion and analysis of what has been called "the largest health issue of our time."

The conference focused on both the treatment of patients already suffering from cardiovascular disease, and also tackling the risk factors across society that cause such illnesses.

Among the recommendations issued by the delegates to reduce the level of heart disease throughout the community were:

• Highlighting the importance of early and effective control of blood pressure, hyperlipidimea and diabetes;

• Developing measures to identify and treat other cardiovascular risk factors as early as possible including stress, obesity and smoking;

• Providing a special focus on the dangers of smoking as a major risk factor for cardiovascular diseases and offering updates on the new treatment options to help people quit smoking;

• Encouraging exercise and life style modification across all sections of society, including smoking cessation and healthier diet.

The conference also issued recommendations on improving treatment levels for patients suffering from cardiovascular illnesses. These included:

• Emphasizing the importance of controlling diabetes and highlighting the latest advances, like inhaled insulin therapy;

• Highlighting the results of the Landmark five year study, ASCOT, which was one of the largest hypertension trials ever conducted, involving more than 19,000 patients, and which showed that adding Atorvastatin, the lipid lowering therapy, to Amlodipine-treated patients significantly reduced cardiac events and strokes in hypertensive patients with multiple cardiovascular risk factors.

Supported by an educational grant from Pfizer, the Conference brought together leading experts in heart disease, including specialists from Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Oman, Bahrain, Egypt, Lebanon, Jordan, Syria, Yemen, Algeria, Ghana, Kenya, Morocco, Nigeria, South Africa and Turkey.