China contributes to almost half of the cases of cardiovascular disease (CVD) worldwide; it was therefore appropriate that Shanghai was the venue for the first ever European Society of Cardiology (ESC) congress in the Asia Pacific region ‘1st ESC Asia Cardiovascular Symposium – a considered approach to managing a complex challenge’. This was followed by the 2nd Bayer Schering Pharma (BSP) Cardiovascular Risk Management (CVRM) Expert Workshop ‘Connecting strategies to improve cardiovascular disease management’. With more than 300 physicians attending the congress and the workshop, which were simultaneously translated into Chinese, the faculty conveyed some very important messages about the growing CVD epidemic in Asia-Pacific (AP) countries. The meetings highlighted the need to undertake country-specific screening to identify ‘at risk’ individuals and to consider multiple-risk-factor management strategies to prevent CVD.
In addition and linked to this year's World Heart Day (WHD) a media workshop ‘Know Your Risk, No Heart Disease’ ensured these messages were communicated to the wider community through invited journalists from China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Thailand, Philippines, Singapore, Malaysia and Australia. In line with the theme for WHD 2008 'Do you know your risk?', the media workshop focused on the results of a global ‘Are you a Risk Taker’survey conducted by Bayer HealthCare in ten countries including China and South Korea. The survey showed that amongst those who engage in ‘risky health behaviours’, a significant proportion are not aware they may be at increased risk of heart disease.
