19 April, Vitebsk /Olga Bogacheva - BELTA/. A steady downward trend in mortality from cardiovascular diseases has been observed in the Vitebsk region for the last three years, Vladislav Podpalov, chief freelance cardiologist of the Vitebsk Regional Executive Committee's Healthcare Department and professor at Vitebsk State Medical University, told a BELTA correspondent. In 2011, the share of mortality from cardiovascular diseases in the region's mortality structure was 45.5%; in 2010, it was 46.2%; and in 2009, it was 47.3%. According to the results of the past year, this indicator was below the national average (51.9%) and is the lowest among all regions of the republic. The overall incidence of arterial hypertension in the Vitebsk region for the past year was 1371.3 per 10,000 adult population. The relative mortality rate from ischemic heart disease per 1,000 population decreased from 5.1 in 2005 to 4.31 in 2011. Vladislav Podpalov noted a high level of awareness about cardiovascular diseases among the region's residents, with this indicator standing at 75%. However, the need to increase the responsible attitude towards their health among people suffering from such diseases remains acute. "Even knowing about their problems, people do not take adequate measures to avoid the development of diseases, often ignoring and not following doctors' recommendations. The result of such an irresponsible attitude towards one's own health is ending up in a hospital bed with serious problems," the cardiologist stated. -0-

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