Lecciones aprendidas de dos grandes estudios epidemiológicos de enfermedades cardio-cerebrovasculares en las que ha participado Colombia

Two recent large-scale epidemiological studies, INTERHEART and INTERSTROKE in which Colombia took part, demonstrated that in Latin America in general and particularly in Colombia, the main risk factor for the presentation of acute myocardial infarction and ischemic, and hemorrhagic stroke was the abdominal obesity in contrast to the rest of the world where the main risk factor was increase in plasma concentrations of total cholesterol and LDL-cholesterol for myocardial infarction, and hypertension for stroke . These data give support to the proposal that in Latin America the rapid transition in economic models experienced in the last years together with the fast urbanization has led to an explosive increase in abdominal obesity, diabetes mellitus type 2, and cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases.