"Keep your heart guarded, shoulder to shoulder with the truth. You're not immortal, life is not a movie!" - sings Mikołaj Mądrzyk - Mikser, rapper, in a hip-hop clip. That unhealthy diet, stimulants and stress are a real health risk and the risk of a heart attack even at a young age, will be creatively persuaded in the new awareness campaign "The Easy Way to a Heart Attack" by the All-Poland National Association of the Polish Heart Association. Association Patients with Cardiovascular Diseases "EcoHeart".
- In scientific publications from about 20 years ago, the incidence of myocardial infarction in the young adult population under 40 years of age was estimated at 2-6% of all myocardial infarctions. In most recent population-based studies, the above rate in this age group is already estimated at 5-10%. What's more, this figure is increasing significantly from year to year. The Simple Road to Myocardial Infarction campaign mainly targets adolescents and young adults, as educating people in the 18-28 age range is a worthwhile investment in the future. The effects of awareness-raising activities in this age group are long-term and relatively easy to achieve due to the characteristic openness of young people and their readiness to make positive changes in their daily lives, the reasons for launching the campaign are explained by Agnieszka Wolczenko, President of the EcoSerce Association.
- As more and more young people are falling ill with cardiovascular diseases, it is very important to make young people aware of how to lead an appropriately hygienic lifestyle so as to prevent not only heart attacks, but also, for example, unstable angina or coronary artery disease, which may occur in the future. The 'Easy Way to a Heart Attack' campaign is aimed at young people, who should be aware of the health consequences of their life choices," adds Dr Sylwia Kucia-Kuźma, cardiologist at the Cardiac Rehabilitation Unit of the Murcki Hospital in Katowice.
- Young people need to be educated appropriately to raise their awareness of risk factors for cardiovascular conditions. In order to educate effectively, we decided to match the form of communication with the audience to their style and tastes. Hence the idea to cooperate with the rapper Mikołaj Mądrzyk - Mikser," adds Maria Wolczenko from the EcoSerce Association, the initiator of the 'Simple Road to Heart Attack' campaign.
- I decided to take part in the campaign because I know from my own experience how important preventive health care is. I know how important it is to be aware of the fact that our health can simply "go haywire" in a very short time - and for a very trivial reason! The campaign "The easy way to a heart attack" aims to increase the interest of adolescents and young adults in their health, regular check-ups and basic knowledge about the prevention of cardiovascular diseases, which are one of the most common causes of death. Our aim is to show young people in an accessible way that the doctor 'doesn't bite' and that a visit to a specialist does not always have to mean that we are seriously ill," explains Mikołaj Mądrzyk.
In addition to the clip, a series of educational and preventive meetings for young people organised in schools and cultural promotion centres throughout Poland is planned as part of the 'Simple Road to Heart Attack' campaign.
- We have planned topics related to a healthy lifestyle, proper diet and mental health to be discussed, as these aspects are neglected by young people and lead to later cardiovascular problems. The meetings will be conducted by experts in the fields of sports cardiology, paediatric cardiology, psychology and dietetics. At the meetings, we want to promote preventive examinations and teach the correct use of a blood pressure monitor and pulse oximeter. In the first stage of the campaign, we envisage about 10 meetings," says Maria Volchenko.
The educational activities of the Simple Road to Heart Attack campaign will last until the end of 2023.
The Polish Cardiac Society, the Patient Ombudsman, and The Global Heart Hub are honorary patrons of the initiative.
Link to the clip: