Inauguration of the XXXI Mexican Congress of Cardiology

Abstract

Correspondence: *Dr. Pedro Iturralde Torres E-mail: pedroi@yahoo.com Available online: 09-02-2020 Arch Cardiol Mex (Eng). 2020;90(1):1-3 www.archivoscardiologia.com Date of reception: 27-11-2019 Date of acceptance: 28-11-2019 DOI: 10.24875/ACME.M20000083 Distinguished Minister Secretary of the Interior Olga Sánchez Cordero, members of the Head Table, cardiologist colleagues, specialists, nurses, specials guests, ladies and gentlemen. On behalf of the Board of Directors of the Mexican Society of Cardiology 2018-2020, I cordially express to all present the most affectionate welcome to our thirty-first Mexican Congress of Cardiology. The Mexican Society of Cardiology has reached 84 years of existence and, since its birth, every two years it congregates its members in its national congresses with the purpose to spread knowledge on Cardiology current issues. I gladly comply with the duty to remember and pay tribute to our founder and honorary president, Professor Ignacio Chávez, an emblematic leading figure of medicine, education, culture and humanism in the 20th century. Our recognition to the former presidents for their commitment and dedication to achieve the advance of our society. Every one of them, at the time, built and consolidated with their work a rock-solid academic platform of the highest scientific level. “The achievements of a scientific society are the sum of the contributions of its members. Its projection and scope are based on joint effort, on unified far-sighted vision and on the conjunction of wills.” This is how the Society continues its constant academic work to the benefit of Mexican cardiologists. In Mexico, as in the rest of the world, cardiovascular diseases represent the first cause of death. Last year, 130,000 cases were reported in the country, out of which 100,000 were related to acute coronary syndrome. Therefore, cardiovascular diseases cause more deaths than cancer. The most important cardiovascular risk factors are obesity and overweight, especially in children, and in this regard Mexico ranks first in the world. Diabetes and high blood pressure, which are suffered by more than 30 million Mexicans, as well as increased cholesterol, smoking and sedentary lifestyle, have contributed for the acute myocardial infarction mortality rate to be three times higher than the average in the countries of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development in patients older than 45 years, and it is therefore essential to take primary prevention measures to prevent that in the next decades one out of every two Mexicans die from heart diseases. This implies a global challenge, and hence the importance of the “25 x 25” initiative of the World Heart Federation and the World Health Organization, which involves the commitment to reduce cardiovascular disease mortality by 25% for the year 2025. Hence the importance of cardiology societies for this project to succeed. During the 31st Mexican Congress of Cardiology we will have the participation of more than 400 prominent