Avezum A, Braga J, Santos I, Guimarães H P, Marin-Neto J A, Piegas L S
Research Division, Dante Pazzanese Institute of Cardiology, São Paulo, SP, Brazil.
Heart. 2009 Sep;95(18):1475-82. doi: 10.1136/hrt.2008.156331. Epub 2009 Feb 17.
South America comprises widely different environments consisting of many complex and heterogeneous ethnicities, societies and cultures. During recent decades conspicuous advances in human and societal development have been made. South America now faces three major demographic shifts: population growth; urbanisation (almost 90% of the population live in urban areas) and ageing. Recently, an epidemiological transition has been seen. Urbanisation has brought unfavourable and prominent changes, such as increased smoking rates, stress, lack of physical activity and poor diets (more fat and calories). Consequently, owing to the interaction between environment and genetic susceptibility, the modifications induced by urbanisation have resulted in enhancement of the cardiovascular risk factors and cardiovascular disease (CVD). This situation is responsible for the burden of CVD in South America, requiring effective action towards better detection and control of cardiovascular risk factors aimed at reducing the burden of disease in the region, which tends to be higher and increasingly serious.
南美洲环境差异极大，包含众多复杂且多元的种族、社会和文化。近几十年来，人类和社会发展取得了显著进步。南美洲目前面临三大人口结构转变：人口增长、城市化（近90%的人口居住在城市地区）以及老龄化。最近，出现了流行病学转变。城市化带来了不利且显著的变化，如吸烟率上升、压力增大、缺乏体育活动以及不良饮食（脂肪和热量更多）。因此，由于环境与遗传易感性之间的相互作用，城市化引发的这些变化导致心血管危险因素和心血管疾病（CVD）增加。这种情况造成了南美洲心血管疾病的负担，需要采取有效行动，更好地检测和控制心血管危险因素，以减轻该地区日益严重的疾病负担。
