Incidents of heart attacks and cardiac arrests in young people have been on the rise in India, with 25% of all cases occurring in those under the age of 40 and impacting everyone from 20 to 30 years old. According to the National Crime Records Bureau, 19,744 people between the age group 30 to 60 died on account of heart attacks in 2021, which is a 70% surge.
Vibes of India reported these numbers recently, highlighting India’s growing vulnerability to heart diseases.
Now, recent research has linked cases of Cardiovascular Diseases (CVD) in Ahmedabad to alcohol and smoking habits in immediate relatives of known patients. The study states that 20% of patients in this category were highly susceptible to CVD in the next 10 years.
The paper titled ‘Prevalence of Traditional Risk Factors in First Degree Relatives of Patients with Established Cardiovascular Disease’ was published in the journal Cureus. Poojan Prajapati and Vatsa Bhavsar from the internal medicine department at BJ Medical College authored the study along with other eminent people from GMERS Medical College, GSC Medical College, and Gujarat University.
The study included 372 immediate relatives of CVD patients from the city. Dr Kamal Sharma, a city-based cardiologist and one of the authors of the paper, told a national daily that while it was proven that immediate relatives carry a greater risk of developing CVD, the study also assessed the impact of factors such as lifestyle and gender.
“The study found that about 80% were in the low-risk (less than 10%) category, whereas 20% were in the moderate to very high-risk categories. Of those in the moderate to very high-risk categories, the prevalence of hypertension (high blood pressure) was 52% to 100%, whereas the prevalence of diabetes was more than 37% in moderate to high categories. Smoking and alcohol consumption was found to be relatively less,” said Dr Sharma told the daily.
The research only confirms what medical science had long established: a sedentary lifestyle is a curse. Nearly half of the respondents who were part of the study admitted their daily activities were limited.
For sure, family history matters too, as Dr Anil Jain, a city-based cardiac surgeon, has been saying over the years. He was quoted as saying, “A family history or what we call genetic factors are major indicators of the likelihood of developing cardiac issues. We always tell patients not to add risk factors if they already have one – if a person’s family has a history of cardiac disease, one must take care of blood pressure, blood sugar and lifestyle.”
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