Riyadh: One in four adults in Saudi Arabia are at high risk of having a heart attack within the next 10 years owing to their unhealthy lifestyle which has turned them into ‘electronic potatoes’, scientists say. The study investigated the prevalence of risk factors for heart disease in more than 4,900 Saudis living in urban areas who had no history of heart disease.
“The majority of people we studied were between 20 and 40 years old and 26 per cent were at high risk of a heart attack or death from a heart attack in 10 years,” said Dr Muhammad Adil Soofi, first author of the research and assistant consultant in adult cardiology at Prince Salman Heart Centre, King Fahad Medical City.
“Unhealthy lifestyles start at a young age in the Gulf and people reap the consequences early in life,” Soofi said. The research was presented at the 26th Annual Conference of the Saudi Heart Association (SHA) here. Most people in the study (85 per cent) were less than 40 years old and 55 per cent were women.
The researchers found that 25 per cent had diabetes, 34 per cent had hypertension, 25 per cent were smokers, 27 per cent were obese, 86 per cent were not involved in any physical exercise and 19 per cent had dyslipidemia (abnormal amount of lipids in blood).
As a result of the high level of risk factors, 26 per cent of participants were at high risk of having a heart attack or dying from a heart attack in 10 years, researchers said. Diabetes had a major impact on risk. When diabetes was excluded as a risk factor, the proportion at high risk of a heart attack or death from a heart attack fell to just over 4 per cent.
“Diabetes doesn’t occur in isolation. Diabetic individuals had a significantly increased prevalence of other risk factors such as obesity, hypertension, smoking and dyslipidemia,” Soofi said.
“Diabetes and other risk factors start at an early age in Saudi Arabia. When we looked just at people under the age of 30, we found that 14 per cent were diabetic, 27 per cent were obese, 31 per cent were smokers and 77 per cent were not physically active. So it’s a whole package that will lead to heart disease in a decade,” Soofi said.
Soofi said that urbanisation, lack of education and Westernisation could be to blame for the unhealthy lifestyles of young Saudis.
“Healthy lifestyles are a rare occurrence in the Gulf region and bad habits start early. Nearly one-third of teenagers smoke in some areas and the levels are even higher in others,” said Professor Hani Najm, SHA vice president, past president and head of international affairs.
“Young people’s addiction to smartphones and social media has turned them into electronic potatoes, today’s version of the couch potato but no longer confined to one room as with television. They have zero intention of being physically active,” Najm said.
