KARACHI, Dec 28: Local and foreign medical experts on Wednesday delivered papers on a variety of health subjects on the third day of the second annual symposium of the Dow University of Health Sciences (DUHS).

The day began with the Prof M.U. Islam memorial lecture. Prof S Sultan Ahmad from the USA spoke on “Cardiac Effects of Long-term Smoking”.

Elaborating the hazards of smoking on human health, Prof Sultan said smoking was the number one factor behind cardiac diseases, adding that smoking greatly contributed towards increasing the risk of sudden death.

The Framingham Study data clearly established an association between cigarette smoking as an important risk factor for coronary artery diseases, he said.

Speaking on “Obesity: A Rising Pandemic”, Prof Abdul Basit spelled out the reasons behind obesity and the ailments caused by it.

Explaining a study carried out in Lyari on a selected group of 500 people, he said more than 25 per cent of Lyari’s population was suffering from metabolic syndrome, representing a heterogeneous group of metabolic disorders.

Prof Basit called for a ban on the sale of certain junk food items and termed these as a major culprit behind obesity.

Speaking on “Latest Guidelines of Asian Pacific Type-2 Diabetes Policy Group,” Dr Zaman Sheikh said diabetes had affected at least 30 million people in the Asian-Pacific region.

He said the latest guidelines of the Asian-Pacific region had been produced especially with the needs of our region in mind, because significant patho-physiological differences existed when comparing Type-2 diabetes in these ethnic groups and Type-2 diabetes in Caucasians.

Speaking on “Osteoporosis: Emerging Management Trends,” Dr Jawed Akhtar outlined a number of steps that could help manage osteoporosis. These included reduction in use of tobacco, weight-bearing exercise to strengthen not only bones, but also muscles, reduction in risk of falls and ensuring adequate intakes of calcium and Vitamin D.

Dr Salma Haider Aga speaking on “Diagnostic intervention for breast cancer” said that breast cancer remained the most commonly diagnosed cancers in women, adding that the life-time risk of developing breast cancer was as high as one in eight.

Despite the fact that when found early, breast cancer was highly treatable in most cases, she said yet more than 40,400 women would die of it this year alone.

A well attended workshop on trans-oesophageal echocardiography was also organised at the Cardiology Department of the Civil Hospital. Dr Mirza Wajid Baig from the United States conducted the workshop.—APP