Matters of the heart: Rise in number of young cardiovascular patients

Yesterday was World Heart Day, and it is aimed at drawing people’s attention to heart illness and the range of associated health issues. In recent times, the significance of this continues to grow steadily. Earlier, typically it was people in the 50+ age group who would encounter heart problems. But in recent times, cardiology experts have witnessed an influx of younger patients ranging from 20s to early 40s, facing cardiovascular issues, which is a troubling sign. Read on to know more...

Young male patients on the rise

Very often, Dr Santosh Kumar Dora, senior cardiologist, Asian Heart Institute, comes across patients under the age of 45 having evidence of Coronary Artery Disease (CAD). Almost 10 to 20 per cent of the OPD patients with coronary artery disease belong to the young category. “Females are less prone to coronary artery disease than males. However, if there is diabetes and smoking, then the gender advantage is lost. Urbanites are more prone for coronary artery disease than the rural population,” he says.

There has definitely been an increase in the number of young people, less than 50 years of age, who have had a heart attack. On an average, Dr Tilak Suvarna, senior interventional cardiologist, Asian Heart Institute, sees about three to four such patients per week. Nine out of 10 patients are men, both blue- and white-collar employees. 

Risk factors

“Many patients have cardiovascular disease or risk factors such as family history of premature heart disease, diabetes, smoking, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, stress and obesity,” says Dr Pratik Soni, cardiologist, Wockhardt Hospital, adding that now people are aware about the causes and their lifestyle has to be modified but still they don’t improve it. Young adults with greater visceral fat (type of body fat that’s stored within the abdominal cavity) have greater atherosclerosis burden, therefore, greater risk for clinical events including heart attack and stroke in the long run.

There are various causes of increased incidence of CAD in the young. The most important reversible risk factor is smoking. The prevalence of smoking in younger individuals less than 45 years of age, with CAD, was reported to be 60 to 90 per cent as compared to 24 to 56 per cent in patients greater than 45 years, says Dr Dora. 

When do they seek help?

Most of these patients, because of their young age, would not have even dreamed that they could have a heart problem. Therefore, they usually present suddenly. And even when they have a heart attack, they are often unable to recognise the symptoms. So by the time they present to a medical setup, significant heart muscle damage has already occurred, laments Dr Suvarna.

Most of the time they present as myocardial infarction (heart attack), which is sudden, says Dr Dora. Sometimes, they come because of strong family history of heart disease to make sure that they do not have it. Sometimes they come for a routine health check-up and stress test suggests underlying coronary artery disease.

What should you do?

Dr Narayan Gadkar, cardiologist, Zen Multispecialty Hospital, advises adults to get their blood pressure and blood sugar checked at least once a year, every six months if they have a family history of hypertension and diabetes mellitus, polyuria or unexplained weight loss. Lipid profile tests should be done at least every five years. It’s a false notion that only those with obesity are prone to heart problems. He adds, “Nobody is immune to heart attack, anybody can suffer from it. It’s more likely in people with the various risk factors.”