Not even youngsters immune to heart attacks as cases double: experts
text_fields
New Delhi: Alongside triggering flu, sore throat and asthma, winter may have been contributing to heart ailments as well, experts believe.
Over the past several months numerous young people died of heart attacks, causing conversation among medical experts.
The number of heart attack has now doubled compared to those in the previous month, said Dr Balbir Singh, Chairman and Head, Cardiology, Max Hospitals, news agency ANI reported. Dr Balbir Singh linked the spike in heart attacks to winter and poor lifestyles.
Acknowledging the fact that heart ailments are increasing in the country, he said the heart is one of the major organs that suffer during the winter.
‘We know why it does so and we can already see a spike happening in our hospital every day. On average, we get about two heart attack cases in a day. In January, it’s going to be a little more,’ he reportedly said.
Dr Balbir Singh said the trend of people getting heart attack is upward in winters. Detailing further he said there is now no age group that is immune to heart ailments.
‘Recently, two months ago, I treated a 26-year-old lady, and she had a heart attack. In my career, I have never imagined such things happening because women are generally protected at reproductive age from heart attacks. She was a nonsmoker. The only thing she handles is a lot of stress,’ he was quoted as saying.
He stressed the importance of awareness among young people against the false belief that they are immune to it.
Further explaining how winter is affecting the heart he said, ‘winter is an important risk factor because, in winter, the vessels that take blood vessels to the body tend to constrict. So if blood vessels are going to my skin if they constrict, it prevents evaporation, it prevents loss of heat, and it tries to conserve heat for the body.’
‘So it constricts and by constricting, it does two things. It does increase the heart rate and blood pressure. Even a small increase in heart rate is a risk factor. Even a small increase in blood pressure is a risk marker, he added.
Other factors that contribute to heart ailment include smoking, lack of physical exercise, overeating, alcoholism and rising air pollution in winter, he pointed out.
