To prevent cardiac ventricular disease (valvular heart disease), attention must be paid to reducing individual risk factors.
Behavioral risk factors
- Overweight (BMI ≥ 25; obesity)1
- Android body fat distribution1, that is, abdominal/visceral, truncal, central body fat (apple type) – high waist circumference or waist-to-hip ratio (THQ; waist-to-hip ratio (WHR)) is presentWhen waist circumference is measured according to the International Diabetes Federation guideline (IDF, 2005), the following standard values apply:
- Men < 94 cm
- Women < 80 cm
In 2006, the German Obesity Society published somewhat more moderate figures for waist circumference: < 102 cm for men.
Environmental pollution – intoxications (poisonings).
- Outdoor temperatures for 10 days above 30 °C in weeks 2 to 8 of pregnancy (i.e., during the period of cardiac development) → increase in prevalence (disease incidence) of heart defects from 878.9 to 979.5 per 100,000 (mainly non-critical heart defects); for atrial septal defects (malformation of the heart in which the cardiac septum between the two atria of the heart is not completely closed) increase in prevalence of 37%.
1Aortic valve stenosis (aortic stenosis)2angeborn cardiac vitiations.
Primary prevention
- To reduce congenital cardiac vitiation: men should not drink alcohol for at least six months before conception and women for at least 12 months before. See: Alcohol consumption by parents before conception.
