Health minister: Heart attacks, strokes becoming more common at earlier age in Ukraine

Heart attacks and strokes are increasingly affecting Ukrainians at an earlier age than usual, Ukrinform reported on Oct. 20, citing the country's Health Minister Viktor Liashko.

The minister linked this development to the COVID-19 pandemic and the ongoing full-scale war with Russia, which had a negative effect on early detection and screening of serious diseases.

"Prevention has taken a back seat. We estimate that this will result in complex diseases being detected at advanced stages when there is already a need for long-term and expensive treatment," Liashko said at the All-Ukrainian Congress of Cardiovascular Surgeons in Kyiv.

Almost 450,000 people in Ukraine die every year due to cardiovascular diseases, according to the country's health authorities. This mostly concerns people of working age.

One of the main reasons is the indifferent attitude to lifestyle, often including smoking and alcohol consumption, which is now reinforced by the war, Natalia Ivanchenko, the general director of the Lviv Regional Center for Disease Control and Prevention, explained.

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