Ana Cristina Santos

Serviço de Higiene e Epidemiologia, Faculdade de Medicina da Universidade do Porto

Abstract

The world is now facing a global change in the patterns of disease. Non-communicable diseases such as diabetes or cardiovascular disease are fasting replacing the traditional epidemics. These changes are affecting mainly developing countries, but its impact is fully observed in the developed world. Cardiovascular diseases are a main cause of death among Portuguese adults, and changes in the prevalence of modifiable risk factors such as obesity or tobacco consumption, could lead to important changes in the morbidity and mortality of such diseases. However, national estimates indicate that obesity and tobacco consumption are the two most common modifiable risk factors in our population and unfortunately their prevalence estimates are not expected to decrease in the next years.

Key-words: tobacco; obesity; epidemics.

Resumo

Actualmente, o mundo enfrenta a uma mudança profunda nos padrões de doença. Doenças crónicas, como a diabetes ou a doença cardiovascular, estão a substituir rapidamente as epidemias tradicionais. O impacto destas mudanças é amplamente observado no mundo ocidental, estando também a afectar os países desenvolvidos. As doenças cardiovasculares são a principal causa de morte entre os adultos portugueses e mudanças na prevalência de factores de risco modificáveis, como a obesidade ou o consumo de tabaco, poderiam levar a mudanças importantes tanto na morbilidade como na mortalidade por estas doenças. No entanto, estimativas nacionais indicam que tanto o consumo de tabaco como a obesidade, são os factores de risco mais frequentes na nossa população, e infelizmente não se espera nos próximos anos uma diminuição nas estimativas de frequência destes dois factores de risco.

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Correspondência:

Dr.ª Ana Cristina Santos

Faculdade de Medicina da Universidade do Porto

Alameda Prof. Hernâni Monteiro

4200-319 Porto

e-mail: acsantos@med.up.pt