Too
young for a heart attack? Think again
Twenty-seven-year-old IT employee Rohit Kotecha
(name changed) used to skip reading articles on cardiac ailments, assuming it
was something he wouldn’t have to bother about.
A few days ago, an incident changed Kotecha’s way
of thinking forever. Experiencing sudden chest pain and sweating while he was
on an assignment in Hyderabad, he was rushed into the emergency room of a
hospital by colleagues. Doctors told him he had suffered a heart attack.
“He needed an angioplasty and once he was
stabilised, his brother drove him down from Hyderabad to Pune for the
procedure. The patient led a stressful lifestyle with erratic work hours and
smoked nearly 100 cigarettes a day. In fact, such cases of youngsters have
become routine for us,” said Duggal.
Doctors say cases of young patients in their late
20’s or early 30’s suffering heart attacks is so common that it doesn’t
surprise them anymore.
“In most cases, till the last minute, the
patients don’t accept that they are having a heart attack as they are too
young. There are days when I have operated three to four cardiac patients in
20’s on the same day. Typically, we see more male patients suffering early
heart attacks,” said cardiologist Dr CN Makhale.
Chief cardiologist and trustee of Ruby Hall
Clinic, Dr Pervez Grant said the most common risk factors for youngsters is an
unhealthy lifestyle.
“Most of the younger patients have lifestyle
issues such as odd working hours that forces body to fight its biological
clock, stressful lifestyle, little time to exercise and bad dietary habits
which are common risk factors. In a large majority, we found a history of
smoking which is extremely dangerous and often overlooked as young people take
up habit as a stress buster,” said Grant.
In addition to lifestyle factors, experts are now
in the process of identifying certain biological factors that make youngsters
more susceptible to heart disease.
“Lack of certain enzymes like homocystein, which
aid the cell-building process, may aggravate heart trouble. Also, the effects
of serum lipoprotein A levels and triglyceride levels in the body on the heart
are important,” said interventional cardiologist Dr Rahul Patil.
Source: www.dnaindia.com
06.10.2012
You always pass
failure on the way to success
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