A different, and perhaps more troubling, picture of Greeks’ relationship with their heart emerges behind the headline figures of a new nationwide survey commissioned by the Hellenic Society of Cardiology and conducted by polling firm MARC.
The issue is not simply a lack of information. Researchers have identified a paradox: the very progress of cardiology appears to have created, among part of the population, the impression that cardiovascular disease is now a problem that can be fixed.
“People now believe that if they have a heart attack, go in for angioplasty or a ‘balloon,’ as they call it, and leave four days later, the problem has been solved,” the Hellenic Society of Cardiology says. It warns against what may be the clearest summary of the problem: “We must not pay the price for our success.”
The findings are striking. Just 25.1% of citizens identify cardiovascular disease as the leading cause of death in Greece, while among those aged 18 to 34, the figure falls to 14.4%.
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Cardiologists say the explanation goes beyond a lack of knowledge. “Because there are significant and effective treatment options for dealing with some cardiovascular complications, people may become complacent and no longer consider cardiovascular disease a leading cause of death,” says Lambros Michalis, vice president of the Hellenic Society of Cardiology and a professor of cardiology.
Medication Is Easier Than Changing Your Life
A second contradiction emerges from the survey. Greeks largely know what harms the heart: 91.2% identify obesity as a risk factor, 88.4% identify high blood pressure and 87.5% identify smoking.
Yet 42% say they smoke or vape, 45.4% believe they are above a healthy weight and nearly one in four exercise no more than once a week.
Michalis raised another important dimension: the challenge is not always convincing a patient to take medication. It is getting them to change their lifestyle.
“The biggest problem is changing lifestyles and behaviors. Even when people know about them, that is the biggest challenge,” he says, explaining that medication can sometimes create a false sense of security: people may take a drug and assume they can continue eating, drinking or smoking as they did before.
Recommendations on exercise, diet and smoking cessation have been known for decades. But precisely because they have been repeated for so long, the professor noted, there is a risk that they are now treated as self-evident — and ultimately ignored.
“Prevention starts from the moment we are born”
That leads to perhaps the survey’s most interesting finding, one that cannot be captured by conventional cholesterol or blood-pressure measurements: citizens themselves are effectively calling for cardiovascular prevention to begin much earlier.
More than 90% agree with a series of interventions involving systematic education in schools about risk factors, training in cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) and the use of defibrillators, as well as wider access to automated external defibrillators in public spaces.
Kostas Toutouzas, president of the Hellenic Society of Cardiology and a professor, revealed that the society has already prepared a prevention education program aimed at children. It is expected to be submitted to the Ministry of Education, with the goal of having it implemented in schools.
Representatives of the society put the issue even more clearly: prevention cannot begin when a risk factor appears or when someone arrives at a cardiologist’s office. Education about diet, exercise, smoking and how to respond to an emergency must come first.
“Medically, prevention may begin at 40, but prevention of any heart disease, any cardiac event, begins from the moment we are born,” they stress. “It starts with what we eat, how we behave, our athletic activities, avoiding smoking and educating young people.”
Six in 10 Know the Emergency Number 166
The need for education is not limited to the distant future. It also concerns the first minutes of a heart attack or cardiac arrest.
Although 77.8% say they would immediately call Greece’s National Emergency Medical Service (EKAB), in an emergency, only 59.3% know the emergency number 166, while 29.1% would first have to look up the number.
“It is striking that only six in 10 people know to call 166,” Toutouzas said.
At the same time, cardiologists see an opportunity. Citizens not only say they want more information, but also appear willing to receive CPR training and embrace prevention education in schools. As Michalis puts it, “the great interest is in turning our attention to children.”
The survey also highlights another contradiction. Although 77.9% say they underwent some form of preventive checkup during the past year, nearly four in 10 (39.9%) did not discuss their personal cardiovascular risk with a doctor at all. Only 34.5% had a detailed discussion about it.
Meanwhile, although 74.9% say they generally know the normal ranges for blood pressure, blood sugar and cholesterol, the picture changes when the questions become personal. Just 59.8% say they know their blood pressure with certainty, 54.4% know their cholesterol level, 53.9% know their blood sugar and only 39.4% know their body mass index.
Essentially, the survey reveals a gap between “I had tests” and “I know what they mean for me” — perhaps one of its most significant findings.
And that may be the most important reading of the survey: Greece does not simply have a knowledge gap when it comes to heart health. It has, above all, a prevention culture gap.
And that cannot be fixed through more testing alone. It has to be built in schools, before tomorrow’s patient ever needs to become a patient.