2023-06-20 08:44:07
He XXIX National Congress of General and Family Medicine (SEMG) has taken place in Granada from June 14 to 17. In it, this Primary Care society has alerted health professionals and the general population about some of the most frequent current health problems that we must urgently address.
In the various congress debates, various initiatives have been launched to try to provide solutions to current health challenges. Among them we find establishing healthy habits from childhood in schools, raising awareness about the relevance of good sleep hygiene in adolescence or promoting the harm of tobacco in health through the help of influencers.
The challenges and solutions addressed in the congress are:
1. Deprescription of anxiolytics to fight addiction
Spain stands as the first country in the world in consumption of benzodiazepines. According to the Survey on Alcohol and other Drugs in Spain (AGES 2022) these are considered as the third substance addiction in the country, below alcohol and tobacco. In the survey we found alarming data such as that the 9,7% of the Spanish population would have used prescription or non-prescription hypnosedatives in the last month, while the 7,2% affirm your daily consumption.
Some of the side effects of its excessive use are increased general mortality in its regular users, muscle weakness, ataxia, sedation, memory disturbances, and sleep problems.
Doctors Antonio Torres and Rafael Castro, have invited the health professionals in the congress to deprescribe benzodiazepines in cases where it can be avoided and possible addiction is anticipated.
Dr. Rafael Castro discussed the issue of anxiolytics in depression, where their use is very common, and indicated the importance of a de-escalation plan when the drug has reached its optimal time of action.
Doctors Rafael Castro and Antonio Torres at a press conference. Image courtesy of the SEMG
2. Sleep education to improve adolescent health
Sleep is one of the pillars of well-being. In addition, health in adolescence is key to not suffer from other long-term problems. However, due to the current pace of life, young Spaniards have a negative balance of sleep, since they sleep less than 8-10 hours recommended.
Among the reasons why sleep is affected, we find high exposure to screens and the desire to have more hours for leisure or study. The most common consequences of this lack of sleep are increased irritability, anxiety, or depression.
SEMG experts focus on combating this problem in education. Knowing how good sleep hygiene affects our body is key to motivating adolescents to seek this change.
3. Perform physical exercise by medical prescription
Premature mortality caused by diseases such as ischemic heart disease, cerebrovascular disease, high blood pressure, colon and breast cancer, obesity, sarcopenia, type 2 diabetes, … It can be reduced thanks to physical exercise.
Pablo Berenguel, head of the SEMG Sports Medicine Working Group, has conveyed to the health professionals at the congress the importance of recommending moderate aerobic exercise for at least 30 minutes five days a week. In addition, it must be complemented with a minimum of two days of strength and flexibility exercise.
The Sports Medicine expert indicates the importance of the prescription of physical exercise in the Primary Care consultationssince although “the trend is changing and our awareness of exercise, proper nutrition and healthy lifestyle habits is growing”, we must not forget all the benefits they bring to our day to day.
Pablo Berenguel, head of the Sports Medicine Working Group of the Spanish Society of General and Family Physicians of the SEMG. Image courtesy of the SEMG.
4. Avoid bacterial resistance with One Health
Infections are one of the most frequent syndromes that healthcare providers face in their clinical practice today and must begin to be addressed from “one health” (One Health), that is, caring for human, animal and environmental health at the same time.
“In recent decades we have seen how bacterial resistance to antibiotics commonly used in clinical practice has emerged as a consequence of their use. It is estimated that each year infections by multi-resistant bacteria cause more than 600,000 infections and 33,110 attributable deaths in Europe”, according to Juan Mª González, specialist in Internal Medicine.
To avoid this resistance, experts recommend a rational prescription of antibiotics.
The head researcher of the Ramón y Cajal Institute for Health Research (IRYCIS), María Teresa Coque, has explained the relevance of environmental factors. An answer One Health resistance to antimicrobial agents “will not only help reduce the risk and burden of RAM (adverse drug reaction) in societies, but it will also help to address the triple planetary crisis (inequality, climate change, well-being)”, the expert concluded.
5. Educate in health with SeguridadVital.org
One of the proposals put forward in the XXIX SEMG Congress, is to educate in health from childhood. For this, it has been launched SeguridadVital.organ initiative that aims to bring teams of professional doctors closer to the classroom to instill healthy habits in the little ones.
Schools can request to adhere to the plan and, later, the Primary Care team will receive a kit with a series of guidelines, directives and supporting documents, classified by age group, in order to present the ideas to the children. Once the materials are received, each health center will contact the schools in its area of influence and assign doctors who will make the presentations to their students.
SEMG members launching the SeguridadVital.org project. Image courtesy of the SEMG
6. Ask influencers for help against vaping
Among the new forms of consumption of tobacco products, the I vape It is the most widespread today.
Dr. Andrés Zamorano, current president of the National Committee for the Prevention of Tobacco (CNPT)has alerted that the consumption of tobacco in minors begins each time before, through the vapers or electronic cigarettes. According to the expert, the worst of all is that “positive attitudes towards tobacco and its new forms of consumption” are being generated, since 57.2% affirm that it is fashionable because actors and influencers.
The doctors of the congress make an appeal and ask for “responsibility to the influencers so that they refuse to participate in this game of the tobacco industry to attract minors”.
7. Follow-up of patients with persistent COVID
A follow-up survey of persistent COVID symptoms carried out by the SEMG revealed that the 15.6% of those affected by persistent COVID works under normal conditions, in front of the 46% who are on leave or work with great difficulty. In addition, 9.5% of the people surveyed lost their job and only 2.9% have achieved permanent disability due to persistent COVID.
In the congress it was alerted, from the Spanish Network for Research on Persistent COVID (REiCOP), about the importance of the family doctor in the follow-up of the patient with this pathology, as well as the relevance of the training of health professionals in this new disease.
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