Age no bar, watch your heart

Jai Gunu (name changed) is a fitness freak. A regular gymmer, he eschews all the wrong doings of life — smoking, drinking, fatty foods, and sweets. But what he cannot escape are his work hours — around 12 to 14 every day, with late nights thrown in routinely.

All of 34, this well-built executive in a company suffered a heart attack last week, and has a scheduled angiography today at a suburban hospital. A 22-year-old patient has been admitted to KEM hospital after he complained of chest pain. He is due for an angiography soon.

Gunu’s family is traumatised that one so young and watchful should have to suffer. But consultant cardiac surgeon with Lilavati, Dr Omi Jaiswal, is not surprised. Around 20 per cent of his patients going in for bypass surgery are under 40.

“The funny thing is most of them have none of the high-risk factors associated with coronary artery disease such as hypertension, high cholesterol, smoking, drinking or family history,” he says.

Successive studies have shown that Indians, as a race, are more prone to cardiac problems. One such study done in the US found that South-East Asians are more prone to heart problems than their American counterparts. What is more disheartening is these patients are getting younger.

A study by Dr BK Goyal, honourary dean of Bombay hospital, almost 15 years ago in JJ hospital on 5,000 patients showed several patients were below 40, says an associate of his.

“In the eighties, when we said young people are getting heart attacks, we meant below 45. Today, we mean people in their 20s and 30s,” says Dr Anil Kumar consultant cardiologist at Bombay hospital. Out of 100 patients going in for angioplasty, four to five are below 40 and 10 to 12 are between 40 and 45.

The reason, say doctors, is singular — stress. Advertising professional Ratish Nair agrees. “At 32, last year, I was admitted to hospital as I had a heart attack. No-one was more surprised than me. I have slowed down the pace of my life considerably,” he said. Nair does not commute by train during peak hours, works five days a week, and takes regular breaks.

“It has helped considerbaly, as my stress levels, which doctors said caused the attack, have gone down,” he explained.

Meanwhile, Dr Dr Jaiswal who has operated on several people below 40 and working in multinational companies, says, “My patients ask me why they have a heart problem when they are so particular about their health. But the one factor they underestimate is stress. They tell me it’s easy for me to say change your lifestyle but how can they do that when they are in different cities or countries every day.”

Stress is the biggest culprit and the incidence of coronary artery disease rises in direct proportion to the urbanisation index of an area, says Dr GP Ratnaparkhi, consultant cardiologist with Nanavati Hospital. “Young people with heart problems are on the rise in cosmopolitan cities,” he says.

“In my practice, I have noticed that 40 per cent of the patients who get admitted to the ICU because of a heart attack never had symptoms earlier. This means the disease exists within the person without his knowledge,” says Dr AB Mehta, director, cardiology, Jaslok Hospital.