COVER FEATURE Heart of the matter 38 harmony celebrate age september 20<strong>13</strong>
Age, in this case, is a number that matters. With more and more younger people suffering from heart diseases, lifestyle modifications and technological advancements can help lower the risk. Srirekha Pillai analyses the pitfalls and brings to light measures that can save many a life In December 2009, Ranjan Das, the 42 year-old Mumbaibased CEO of SAP India, collapsed and succumbed shortly after returning home from the gym; he had suffered a cardiac arrest. Not only did he come across as fit to others, he was also known to maintain a healthy lifestyle. For decades it has been assumed that heart diseases claim only the elderly. However, debunking the myth that cardiovascular diseases are only familiar terrain for silvers, a recent study conducted by the Cardiological Society of India (CSI) claims that the average age of individuals susceptible to heart attacks has fallen from 40 to 30 in the last decade. A sedentary lifestyle, insufficient sleep, poor dietary choices and skyrocketing stress are triggering cardiac failure at a much earlier age. There have been cases, and not sporadic, when youngsters in their 20s and 30s have been reported to wake up with unknown symptoms that didn’t bode well. Despite these signs, they went about the day as usual and didn’t return home. Post-mortem revealed they had suffered a heart attack. With heart diseases striking Indians 10 to 15 years earlier than in the West, the World Health Organisation (WHO) in a recent report has made projections that we, by 2020, will have the largest cardiovascular disease burden in the world, what with coronary heart disease accounting for one-third of all the deaths, and many dying young. These findings are in stark contradiction to the age-old belief that heart attacks usually strike after the age of 50. At the ground level, doctors feel that young people are almost setting themselves up for heart disease. Higher income levels have induced a nutritional shift towards unhealthy, processed, on-the-move food and a reduced consumption of fruits and vegetables. These factors, along with overcrowded, unhygienic living conditions, higher exposure to pollution, white-collar jobs and spiralling stress levels, are triggering heart complications. This is a fact confirmed by all the experts Harmony-Celebrate Age spoke to. Even as the mean age for heart attacks is lowering by the year, experts claim that the incidence of sudden cardiac diseases (SCD) is, at the moment, quite high in India, with about 10 per cent of all cardiac-related deaths being sudden and the mean age of patients being less than 60 years. As far as silvers are concerned, the challenge is to battle age-old myths (see “10 Myths”, page 45) and not ignore subtle symptoms (a problem with the younger age bracket as well) that invariably results in losing precious time in seeking medical aid. Compounding this are lifestyle-related problems like diabetes and hypertension; silent attacks, in fact, are nightmarish for diabetic silvers. Another shocking revelation by the CSI study is a 50-per-cent rise in the number of women suffering from cardiovascular diseases (CVD) in India. Women, though, have been proven by other studies to be mostly older when they first show signs of heart problems. According to the findings of Bengaluru-based Sri Jayadeva Institute of Cardiovascular Sciences and Research in 2011, 25 per cent of its patients were below the age of 40, with 10 per cent of them being women. Dr M R Girinath, chief cardiac surgeon of Chennai-based Apollo Hospitals, observes, “Women harmony celebrate age september 20<strong>13</strong> 39
Change language