For heart health: giving up smoking is five times more effective than controlling blood pressure

In the fight against cardiovascular diseases, quitting smoking is five times more effective than controlling blood pressure and three and a half times more effective than controlling cholesterol levels, head of Russian Association for Medical Risk Modification, cardiologist Alexander Rozanov told News.am MED.

He listed the risk factors of cardiovascular diseases, noting that they have long been known:

• Improper nutrition.
• Smoking
• Alcohol abuse
• Passive lifestyle
• Overweight
• High blood pressure

If all the risk factors are present, the doctor says, "there is no chance of living happily ever after at all."

"And then, if you take apart the contribution of each of these factors, to patient survival, just quitting smoking is five times more effective than controlling blood pressure and three and a half times more effective than controlling cholesterol. So you have to choose. And it's even better if you combine it all. That is, not to smoke, control blood pressure and cholesterol levels," he said.