Lifestyle work with unhealthy children can be effective – but with high-risk patients it can be disappointing, European experts were told yesterday.
As many as 30 per cent of men carried on smoking when they were told they need to give it up to prevent imminent heart disease, a major European study has found.
Only a handful managed to lose significant amounts of weight while large numbers declined to undertake extra exercise during the study.
The study in 12 countries involved more than 4,000 people under the age of 80.
They were all being treated for high cholesterol, high blood pressure or diabetes but had not developed heart disease and were identified by GPs with a view to encouraging healthier lifestyles.
Belgian researcher Professor Guy de Backer reported to the conference of the European Society of Cardiology in Munich, Germany: “These lifestyle and risk factor results clearly demonstrate a challenging gap between what is recommended in the guidelines based on scientific evidence and what is achieved in daily practice in high risk individuals in primary prevention of cardiovascular disease.”
The study showed that 16 per cent of all patients were smokers after the GP interventions – and this included 30 per cent of men under the age of 50.
However German researchers reported early success with a programme to improve the health of overweight children.
The project in Ulm seeks to reduce television watching and drinking of sugared drinks and increase levels of exercise.
The researchers said the children lost on average some 260g – about half a pound – after a year.
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