Prof. Dr. Stephen KOPECKY, MD
Past President, American Society for Preventive Cardiology
College of Medicine
Mayo Clinic
USA
Prof. Dr. Steve Kopecky, MD is a cardiologist at Mayo Clinic. After his training at Mayo Clinic, he started in Mayo's Cardiac Catheterization Laboratory doing interventional procedures and in the Coronary Care Unit treating myocardial infarctions. He is now focused on cardiovascular disease prevention. He has written numerous articles for peer-reviewed journals and has received multiple "Teacher of the Year" awards from Mayo's Division of Cardiovascular Diseases and the Department of Internal Medicine. His research interests include the role of lifestyle, including diet, exercise, and proper nutrition play in risk prediction and the development of cardiovascular disease. Dr. Kopecky is a Past President of the American Society for Preventive Cardiology and is the 2013 recipient of the Jan J. Kellermann Memorial Award given by the International Academy of Cardiology for distinguished work in the field of Cardiovascular Disease Prevention.
The Nidus for Non-Communicable Disease Begins in Childhood
The risk factors for the major non communicable diseases (NCD’s) that account for the majority of the world's deaths begin in childhood. The predominant NCDs are cardiovascular disease, cancer, chronic respiratory disease, and Alzheimer's disease. The risk factors leading to these NCD’s are unhealthy diet, sedentary lifestyle and lack of vigorous physical activity, exposure to excess pollutants such as tobacco, excess intake of alcohol, inadequate management of stress with suboptimal social support, and lack of adequate sleep. While the NCDs primarily manifest in mid and later life, the beginnings start in childhood. Studies have revealed that dietary habits are formed in childhood before the age of 10 years and physical activity patterns are often times set early in the 2nd decade of life. In addition, exposure to stress in childhood and adolescent years predisposes individuals to unhealthy lifestyle habits later in life. Initiation of tobacco use in the mid teenage years is often associated with lifelong addiction. Other forms of pollution such as ambient smoke, environmental air pollution, and carcinogen exposure is most damaging when occurring early in life. Screen time addiction, so prevalent in young adulthood can trace its beginnings to early childhood. Children often learn how to manage a smart phone before they learn how to walk or call their mother's name. The majority of our lifestyle habits as adults are habitual in that we perform them as habits which are usually learned much earlier in life. It has been shown that changing a habit is extremely difficult for adults and that learning a correct lifestyle habits as a child leads to a lifetime reduction in the occurrence of NCD’s. This presentation will discuss the major lifestyle habits developed in childhood, their effect on the occurrence of NCD’s, and ways to develop them properly with efforts at the level of the individual, the family, schools, businesses, and both local and national governments.