Unstable angina, is this how you prevent it?

Unstable angina is a common disease that is extremely difficult to treat, and active prevention is the key. The first thing to do is to improve self-care awareness, avoid or change bad living habits, such as quitting smoking, paying attention to a reasonable diet, exercising appropriately, maintaining psychological balance, etc., so as to reduce the occurrence of unstable angina.

1. Primary prevention measures:

(1) Health education: Provide health knowledge education to the entire population, improve citizens' self-care awareness, avoid or change bad living habits, such as quitting smoking, paying attention to a proper diet, exercising appropriately, maintaining psychological balance, etc., so as to reduce the occurrence of unstable angina pectoris.

(2) Control high-risk factors: Actively treat high-risk groups for coronary heart disease, such as those with hypertension, diabetes, hyperlipidemia, obesity, smoking, and family history. Of course, some of these risk factors can be controlled, such as hypertension, hyperlipidemia, diabetes, obesity, smoking, and an inactive lifestyle; while some cannot be changed, such as family history of coronary heart disease, age, gender, etc. Treatment methods include using appropriate medications to continuously control blood pressure, correcting abnormal blood lipid metabolism, quitting smoking and limiting alcohol consumption, appropriate physical activity, controlling weight, and controlling diabetes.

2. Secondary prevention:

Use proven effective drugs to prevent the recurrence and aggravation of unstable angina. Currently, the following drugs have been confirmed to have preventive effects:

(1) Antiplatelet drugs: Aspirin has been shown to reduce the incidence of myocardial infarction and the rate of reinfarction. The use of aspirin after acute myocardial infarction can reduce the rate of reinfarction by approximately 25%. If aspirin is intolerant or allergic, clopidogrel can be used.

(2) β-blockers: As long as there are no contraindications, patients with coronary heart disease should use β-blockers, especially after an acute coronary event. Data show that the use of β-blockers in patients after acute myocardial infarction can reduce the mortality rate and reinfarction rate by 20% to 25%. The drugs that can be used include metoprolol, propranolol, timolol, etc.

(3) Statins: Research results show that long-term lipid-lowering treatment for patients with unstable angina not only reduces the overall mortality rate and improves the survival rate, but also reduces the number of patients who need coronary intervention or CABC. This is due to the fact that statins, in addition to their lipid-lowering effects, can improve endothelial function, have anti-inflammatory effects, affect smooth muscle cell proliferation, and interfere with platelet aggregation, coagulation, and fibrinolysis. Examples include simvastatin, pravastatin, and chlorpheniramine.