Lifestyle modifications after acute coronary syndromes in a subset of the AMI-Florence 2 Registry.

Objective: The aim of this study was to evaluate the adherence to recommendations for secondary prevention of cardiovascular diseases in patients with acute coronary syndromes (ACS).

Methods And Results: Physical examination, a careful medical interview with assessment for lifestyle habits, adherence to pharmacological therapy and blood analyses were performed in 130 patients at the time of the acute event and after 6 months of follow-up. At follow-up examination, 7 patients persisted to smoke (5.4%), 41 (31.5%) continued to have high blood pressure, 34 (26.1%) had high levels of total cholesterol, 38 (29.2%) high levels of triglycerides, 64 (49.2%) high levels of LDL-cholesterol and 46 (35.4%) low levels of HDL-cholesterol. Despite all treatments no significant change occurred. A high percentage of patients (47%) reported a lower daily consumption of fruit and vegetables with respect to the recommended daily portions, nearly the whole population (92.3%) did not reach the recommended portions of legumes per week recommended, and a consistent percentage of patients (81.5%) did not consume fish twice a week, as recommended.

Conclusion: These findings demonstrate the difficulty of modifying the lifestyle habits in patients with ACS.