Almost every one of us knows someone young who lost their life to a heart attack. Viral videos of 16-year-olds collapsing while doing garba or a young man suddenly passing out at a gym, these visuals have become more common than before. 

Dr Doshi reveals that there has been a subtle 25% increase in young heart attack cases. Factors contributing to this trend include heart blockages, pre-existing cardiac anomalies, and overexertion during physical activities. He also delves into the significance of proactively managing risk factors such as hypertension, diabetes, and tobacco consumption through lifestyle modifications as a crucial step in preventing heart attacks. 

Q: There is an increase in the number of people dying of heart attack. What do you think are the reasons? Why are there so many cases? 

A: While there is a noticeable increase in heart diseases globally, especially in India, the rise among younger patients has not been significant. Recent data, including a study published by the Indian Heart Association, shows that approximately 24 out of 100 heart attack patients are under 40 years old.

Our observations show a subtle increase in young heart attack cases, from 12-13% before 2020 to 16-17% in recent years, a 25% rise. So while there is definitely an increase in numbers, it is still not a very significant rise. Various factors contribute to this trend. 

It’s crucial to distinguish between heart attacks and cardiac arrests when discussing the surge in young patients.

Q: What are some of the causes? 

A: Sudden cardiac death can be attributed to two main factors. Firstly, there are those with heart blockages. Secondly, individuals with pre-existing cardiac anomalies such as arrhythmias or irregular heartbeats. Familial hypertrophy of cardiac vessels, abbreviated as Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) or HOCM, is another risk. 

Regular checkups are essential to detect these conditions. Additionally, overexertion, common among young people, can lead to sudden illness or death. Youngsters sometimes push themselves beyond their physiological limits, causing arrhythmias and, eventually, fatal outcomes. It’s important to avoid extensive activities like sports or bodybuilding without understanding when to stop.

Q: The general consensus is that heart attacks are occurring more after COVID. Is there a link in-between ‘long COVID’ and cardiac health?

A: We do not have enough evidence to say that. There may be a direct link, or may not be, we cannot say that. Also, COVID-19 took all of us through a rough patch. Many youngsters fell into depression and loneliness. People lost their money and jobs, inducing an added stress that came with the pandemic itself.

It’s possible that people have developed some harmful habits during COVID-19, such as tobacco, illegal substances, smoking, and alcohol. We are yet to establish the link, though.

So, as far as COVID-19 is concerned, no ample or definite evidence is available to establish a link between the pandemic and heart attacks.

Q: What about heart attacks in youngsters, as they are often linked with a ‘bad lifestyle’, and is there any way to prevent it?

A: With cardiac illness, especially heart attacks and blockages that lead to heart attacks, there are multiple contributing factors.

First, some of these factors are not in our control like the non-mutable ones, such as ageing. As you get older, the chances of having heart issues go up. Second, if someone in your family or family tree had heart issues, you are likely to have them, too. In fact, it puts you four times more at risk of having heart issues.

“Four times more at risk, if someone in the family had heart issues.” 

In the immediate family, if anyone has gone through a cardiac illness before the age of 55, that would automatically put you in the high-risk category.

Third is the abnormal development of genes. Once again, mutated or abnormal genes cannot be prevented, and they can also put you at risk of cardiac illness.

Q: What are some of the factors and lifestyle changes that must be made? 

A:

Hypertension

With every fifth Indian suffering from hypertension today, lifestyle changes are very important. Salt restriction, weight reduction, and managing your stress is the way to manage hypertension. Meditation helps manage stress, with at least 20 to 30 minutes a day with supervised medical therapy.

Managing your blood pressure is key to bringing your risk down to a normal healthy person who does not have hypertension, and it should be normal 24/7, 365 days.

Diabetes

India is considered the diabetes capital of the world. You can also have diabetes if you have a family history. It’s important to control diabetes through food restrictions, exercise, meditation, or with medicines and insulin.

Cholesterol

Having a high cholesterol or high amount of bad cholesterol is not ideal, and should be definitely reduced. If you are overweight, start reducing that first.

Modify your diet and food habits. Add more vegetables, fruits, and protein to your diet. If one cannot control their food habits, then they would be put on medications.

A lot of people also have familial hypercholesterolemia, which is increased levels of lipid running in the family.

Tobacco consumption

Smoking and other forms of consumption of tobacco should be avoided, and if you cannot drop these habits, they should be controlled.

The medium of consumption also matters. For example, a beedi would not have a filter, therefore it would be more harmful than say a cigarette.

It is important to note that even for the people who have stopped smoking, the effects of that will still remain in your body for the next ten years. Even a cigarette a day causes a lot of vasoconstriction, which is the spasm of the vessels in one hour.

Sleeping habits

With youngsters, especially, they are very competitive and want to achieve everything very quickly. The way to do that is to work tirelessly, even during the nighttime.

This gives them hardly enough sleep, and the sleep cycle thus gets disturbed. Many of them sleep at two o’clock in the night and wake up at six.

This irregular sleeping habit with inadequate sleep increases the chances of hypertension seven times and chances of heart attack four times.

Inadequate sleep also results in depression and even suicidal tendencies.

One has to have at least seven and a half hours of sleep daily. From what our ancestors have taught, sleeping early and waking up early would make up for an ideal sleep cycle, and will be good for stress management, too.

For more such updates and news on the go, follow us on

Instagram | YouTube | Facebook