Focus on: Promotion of Cardiovascular Health (II) Promotion of Cardiovascular Health at Three Stages of Life: Never Too Soon, Never Too Late Jose ´ M. Castellano, a,b Jose ´ L. Pen ˜ alvo, b Sameer Bansilal, a and Valentı ´n Fuster a,b, * a Cardiovascular Institute, The Mount Sinai Medical Center, New York, United States b Centro Nacional de Investigaciones Cardiovasculares (CNIC), Madrid, Spain INTRODUCTION Coronary disease is largely a consequence of lifestyles that are not particularly heart-healthy. Hypertension, obesity, a sedentary lifestyle, smoking, hypercholesterolemia, and diabetes mellitus maintain a direct relationship with the lifestyle of each individual. Recent data show that these life habits are acquired early on in life, specifically at around 3 years to 8 years, and, moreover, that they persist from childhood to adulthood. Thus, promotion of cardiovascular health in childhood represents a great opportunity for primary prevention, particularly in developing countries, which Rev Esp Cardiol. 2014;67(9):731–737 Article history: Available online 17 July 2014 Keywords: Promotion of cardiovascular health Adoption of heart-healthy habits Neurodegenerative disease A B S T R A C T Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death worldwide, with an especially devastating impact in low-to-medium income countries. Cardiovascular disease has been elevated to this position by a combination of factors that include urbanization and its attendant effects, such as obesity, a sedentary lifestyle, changes in dietary habits, and smoking. Given the enormous extent of the problem and the complexity of its causes, which include cultural, social, political, and health care factors, an equally sophisticated and comprehensive strategy is required to combat cardiovascular disease on a global scale. Because exposure to cardiovascular risk factors occurs from early ages, this strategy must be expanded and adjusted throughout the life of an individual. Thus, our efforts should be concentrated not only on cardiovascular disease treatment and prevention, but also on health promotion and primordial prevention. In this review, we present different strategies yielding encouraging results at the population level, from childhood until old age, that aim to protect against the challenges facing the scientific community when combating cardiovascular disease. ß 2014 Sociedad Espan ˜ola de Cardiologı ´a. Published by Elsevier Espan ˜a, S.L.U. All rights reserved. Promocio ´n de la salud cardiovascular en tres etapas de la vida: nunca es demasiado pronto, nunca demasiado tarde Palabras clave: Promocio ´n de la salud cardiovascular Adopcio ´n de ha ´ bitos cardiosaludables Enfermedad neurodegenerativa R E S U M E N La enfermedad cardiovascular es la primera causa de muerte en el mundo, y su impacto esta ´ siendo especialmente devastador en paı ´ses de rentas medias-bajas. La combinacio ´n de factores como la urbanizacio ´n y sus efectos derivados, como la obesidad, el sedentarismo, los cambios en ha ´ bitos diete ´ ticos y el tabaquismo, se han combinado para situar la enfermedad cardiovascular en esa posicio ´ n. Dado el enorme alcance de este problema y la complejidad de sus causas, que incluyen factores culturales, sociales, polı ´ticos y sanitarios, la estrategia para combatir la enfermedad cardiovascular a escala global debe ser igualmente sofisticada e integral. Como la exposicio ´n a los factores de riesgo cardiovascular se da desde edades tempranas, se debe expandir y ajustar esta estrategia a lo largo de la vida del individuo. Por ello, es necesario centrar los esfuerzos no solo en el tratamiento de la enfermedad y la prevencio ´n cardiovascular, sino tambie ´n en la promocio ´n de la salud y la prevencio ´n primordial. En esta revisio ´n se presentan diferentes estrategias que han proporcionado resultados esperanzadores a escala poblacional, desde la infancia hasta la vejez, para defenderse de los retos a los que la comunidad cientı ´fica se enfrenta para luchar contra la enfermedad cardiovascular. ß 2014 Sociedad Espan ˜ola de Cardiologı ´a. Publicado por Elsevier Espan ˜a, S.L.U. Todos los derechos reservados. * Corresponding author: Cardiovascular Institute, The Mount Sinai Medical Center, One Gustave Levy Place, Box 1030, New York, NY 10029-6574, United States. E-mail address: valentin.fuster@mountsinai.org (V. Fuster). http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.rec.2014.03.012 1885-5857/ß 2014 Sociedad Espan ˜ola de Cardiologı ´a. Published by Elsevier Espan ˜a, S.L.U. All rights reserved. Document downloaded from https://www.revespcardiol.org/, day 04/12/2021. This copy is for personal use. Any transmission of this document by any media or format is strictly prohibited. Document downloaded from https://www.revespcardiol.org/, day 04/12/2021. This copy is for personal use. Any transmission of this document by any media or format is strictly prohibited.