City bears biggest burden of heart-related diseases with 1.6 lakh deaths in last 14 years
Mumbai : The City has witnessed an unprecedented rise in heart ailment diseases with Mumbai registering 1,65,586 deaths from January 2001 to October 2014, shows a survey conducted by the BMC recently.
Besides, city health experts claim that they are witnessing people below 40 years of age turning up with hypertension and heart-related complaints.
Further, a study conducted in the city in 2013 by Saffola Life revealed that 50 percent youth run the risk of a heart attack and the number might rise in the future.
City health experts stated that unlike before where older people were at higher risk of contracting heart diseases, now the trend is changing and even the youth is at risk of running heart attacks. With this, heart attack cases and deaths have started to become a huge cause of concern for doctors. Dr Vijay D’silva, medical director at Asian Heart Institute told FPJ, “A decade ago, heart diseases were more prevalent in people above the age group of 40. But today, we observe more people coming from the age bracket of 30-40 with heart-related ailments. We need to understand that heart-related blockages have started developing in teens due to bad lifestyle choices.”
The medical fraternity claims that people’s sedentary lifestyle which includes high intake of junk food and less exercise increases the risk of hypertension and obesity which can ultimately lead to chronic heart diseases. They also affirmed that smokers have four times increased risk of having a heart attack as compared to non-smokers. This is owing to the chemicals in cigarette smoke which damage the lining of the coronary arteries, leading to increased risk of formation of blood clots.
When asked, Dr Ajay Chaurasia, head of cardiology department at Nair Hospital, said, “Today, people have a lackadaisical approach towards their health. They work for long hours, skip their meals and smoke five to six cigarettes a day. All these factors lead to a high risk of heart attack. People need to understand that such lifestyle habits pose a threat to their lives, especially for younger generation.”
Precautions to prevent attacks ailments
Making lifestyle changes is the best way to save yourself from having a heart attack, say doctors. Such as…
l Proper healthy diet: Have a healthy, balanced diet (avoid excess fat/ oil/ meat; include more of green veggies, fruits, nuts, fish)
l Stop taking Nicotine: Avoid smoking and excess of alcohol
l Try to keep your blood pressure, blood sugars and cholesterol within normal limits
l Exercise daily
l Manage stress in a healthy manner (meditation and yoga helps to distress)
l BP and diabetes should be treated properly. After the age of 30, a person should regularly go for yearly check-ups.
Heart attack deaths in Mumbai
Year Deaths
2009 10,694
2010 226
2011 14,662
2012 14,063
2013 14,335
2014 (till Oct) 24,603
