It was earlier believed that women had their heart protected due to their hormones but to be honest these days we are not seeing much proof of that protection, says Dr Atul Maslekar
Bollywood actress Sridevi's death due to cardiac arrest came as a shock to legions of her fans. But few know that in Gujarat, heart ailments have cut short more lives of women than any other disease.
A report titled India: Health of Nation's States by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) and Public Health Foundation of India found that Ischemic heart diseases (Coronary Heart Disease(CAD)) were the leading cause of death among women in Gujarat. CAD refers to the gradual thickening of the artery due to the buildup of fat. The study found that among the top 15 causes of Young Lives Lost (YLL), Ischemic heart diseases was the lead cause for women.
YLLs measure all the time people lose when they die prematurely, before attaining their ideal life expectancy.
The study found that women ended up losing close to 15% of total years of their life to premature mortality caused by Ischemic heart diseases. The findings do not come us a surprise for Dr Atul Maslekar, senior consultant, Cardiac Surgery at Narayana Multispeciality Hospital. "It was earlier believed that women had their heart protected due to their hormones but to be honest these days we are not seeing much proof of that protection," said Dr Maslekar. He said in fact of the total female patients he has operated on for cardiac surgery most are below 50 and many even below 45.
"We don't know why women are falling prey to heart ailments. It could be a host of factors including lifestyle, stress, food habits and diabetes," said Dr Maslekar. He also busts another myth that cardiac ailment is the disease of the rich. "We deal with several women patients who are from low and middle-income families. Coronary disease is not restricted to the rich, I can tell you that," said Dr Maslekar.
Overall too, heart diseases were the leading cause of death and disability in Gujarat. Heart ailments were ranked as the number one cause of death in 2016 when in 1990 it was the fourth highest cause of death and disability.
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