Authors

Adel Abdulkader Tash, The National Heart Center at the Saudi Health Council, Riyadh, Saudi ArabiaFollow
Rasha Fahad Al-Bawardy, King Faisal Cardiac Center, King Abdulaziz Medical City, Ministry of National Guard Health Affairs, King Saud bin Abdulaziz University for Health Science, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia

Cardiovascular Disease in Saudi Arabia: facts and the way forward

Abstract

While some risk factors for cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) are non-modifiable, other determinants like obesity, hypertension, type-2 diabetes and dyslipidemia can be mitigated by a wide plethora of measures to control CVD morbidity/mortality. Those determinants have been on the rise in Saudi Arabia, exacerbated by sedentary lifestyle. The Saudi Vision 2030 focuses include the reduction of CVD clinical and economic burden to scale-up vitality and longevity; in a new era of comprehensive healthcare. From a health economics standpoint, CVDs entail a burden on healthcare systems directly through expenditure and indirectly through years living with the disease, low productivity, premature morbidity and mortality. This manuscript reviews current CV health and unmet needs in Saudi Arabia, discusses G20 countries’ initiatives on primary prevention: public health measures, awareness programs, improved health hygiene; and proposes national registries and digital solutions to facilitate population-specific research, improve CV surveillance and alleviate CVD burden in Saudi Arabia.

Recommended Citation

Tash, Adel Abdulkader and Al-Bawardy, Rasha Fahad (2023) "Cardiovascular Disease in Saudi Arabia: facts and the way forward," Journal of the Saudi Heart Association: Vol. 35 : Iss. 2 , Article 6.
Available at: https://doi.org/10.37616/2212-5043.1336

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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License.