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heart and stroke report: canada making progress, but the fight against heart disease is far from over
6 minute read
once someone knows what they’re up against in terms of personal risk factors, they can make the necessary steps toward changing things, whether that be lifestyle or medical, and everyone has to be on board.
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one canadian dies every five minutes due to heart disease or stroke, with more than 6 million people living with the effects of these types of cardiovascular disease. while that may appear on the surface to be doom and gloom, almost 80 per cent of cardiovascular disease can be prevented with the right tools, resources and approach from people, their care providers and the public health system.
a new report by heart & stroke, by the number: the state of risk factors for heart disease and stroke in canada, showcases the progress that’s been made to help mitigate risk factors, as well as where work still needs to be done in an effort to inform and educate people on how they can make changes necessary to lower their risk.
dr. guillaume paré, professor of pathology and molecular medicine and health research methods, evidence and impact at mcmaster university, believes that the report is “so important because the bottom line is that cardiovascular diseases are preventable.”
“this report really puts in context where you are now, the things that we’ve done well, because there are some successes, but also the things where we’re not doing so well, both as individuals and as communities and as a society as well,” he said. “it’s extremely timely that we have this discussion.”
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lifestyle risk factors for cardiovascular disease
the report looks at medical and lifestyle-related risk factors, as well as non-modifiable risk factors, to provide a snapshot of where canadians stand in terms of the prevention of cardiovascular disease.
one of the successes dr. paré mentioned is smoking cessation.
“we went from over 50 per cent of people smoking in this country to, i think it’s now 11 per cent,” he said. “and this is all based because we realized, ‘wow, this is really bad for us.’ and there’s been campaigns, so it’s a tremendous progress.”
smoking is considered a major cause of cardiovascular disease, and with a significant reduction in the amount of canadians lighting up, this amounts to a win. that said, there are other areas mentioned in the report that still have to see the same downward trends.
for example, only about 50 per cent of canadians meet the recommended weekly physical activity guidelines, with 20 per cent of youth reaching those targets. healthy diets are also lacking among canadians, with fruit and vegetable consumption declining steadily since 2025.
sleep is also not where it should be: 20 per cent of people are not getting enough shut-eye, and stress is stable but high, with one in four adults feeling extreme stress in their day-to-day lives.
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it may not be for a lack of trying, though. there are many barriers people face that keep them stressed, lead them to reach for ultra-processed convenience foods and prevent them from moving their bodies as much as recommended.
“we’re busy running around and working and picking up the kids and caring for our parents and so forth, and that doesn’t leave a whole lot of space for activities that would be good for us,” said dr. paré. “another factor is that, unfortunately, having healthy lifestyle habits is sometimes expensive. having a healthy diet is more expensive than eating ultra-processed foods … and that’s something that, as a society, we could work on.”
medical risk factors for cardiovascular disease
medical risk factors are also increasing in the canadian population, with both diabetes and high blood pressure on the rise since 2000, and more than 25 per cent of canadians living with high cholesterol.
the issue with medical risk factors is that people don’t generally feel them until they’ve already created a problem.
“cholesterol is a great example because we don’t feel cholesterol. cholesterol doesn’t cause any pain until we have a heart attack,” said dr. paré. “so, it’s something that’s, to some extent, easy to ignore.”
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getting in to see a health-care provider for something they can’t feel doesn’t feel urgent enough in a health-care system plagued by long wait times, and even if someone can get an appointment, the amount of time a doctor has is finite and stretched incredibly thin, leaving very little room for longer health discussions.
“it’s almost impossible,” said dr. paré. “we need a different approach. maybe it should be a campaign to help people understand what are the risk factors, and that’s what the heart and stroke foundation is doing, and this is great.”
working together to prevent cardiovascular disease
to address the risk factors and encourage preventive action against cardiovascular disease, canadians must first understand them. with 90 per cent of people having at least one modifiable risk factor, but only half knowing their risk, the disconnect can be life-altering, or in some cases, life-threatening if not addressed adequately.
“there’s still a lot of communication to be done to make sure that everyone understands what the risk factors are for cardiovascular disease,” said dr. paré.
from an individual perspective, knowing and understanding these risk factors is one thing, but changing them is quite another, because “it’s so difficult to change lifestyle habits.”
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“oftentimes when people start making these changes, they say, ‘well, i feel good, and i want to continue,’ but the inertia is very high to start making these changes,” said dr. paré, later continuing, “on the one hand, we have the constraints of our lifestyle and stressful work and everything that kind of stops us … but there’s also a silver lining here is that it is possible to change … but we need to be creative and we need to support those people that try to make a change for the better in their community.”
that said, “good habits can be contagious,” so when someone does make that first step toward reducing their risk, whether that be examining their diet, starting exercise, or quitting smoking, one foot in the right direction makes it a lot easier to make the second, third, or fourth steps.
from the medical provider side, it’s just about “having the time to discuss this with patients, to see if people have questions.” while the state of the health-care system makes this a significant challenge for both patients and medical providers, making an effort toward change is necessary.
“there should be a more preventative approach in the way we deliver medical care, which is not quite there yet, i think, and we could do a much better job.”
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societally, there needs to be an open conversation, along with resources and tools people can access, to change how they approach cardiovascular disease prevention. for example, heart & stroke offers several resources for people who want to understand their risk factors so they can make changes, such as its risk screening tool.
once someone knows what they’re up against, they can make the necessary steps toward changing things, whether that be lifestyle or medical, and everyone has to be on board.
“the reality is, is that we already have the tools to prevent them (cardiovascular diseases) to a very large extent, not completely, but to a very large extent,” said dr. paré. “we know the major risk factors. we know we’ve got great tools to intervene on these risk factors. we know the importance of lifestyle, diet, exercise, stress, alcohol, sleep and so forth. so, the knowledge is there. i think it’s more like how do we implement this? and how do we make sure that people know this and they can use this knowledge to make good decisions for themselves and make sure that they live healthily in their 70s, 80s and 90s?”
“maybe i’m optimistic, but i see the good,” said dr. paré. “i think this report is very well made … it’s a great way to start the discussion.”
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