HYDERABAD: Youth in the city are extremely susceptible to cardiovascular diseases. Experts feel that there is an alarming regularity in the cases in which youngsters in their twenties and thirties are admitted in hospitals with heart episodes.
According to experts, there has been a 50 per cent increase in the incidents of CAD among the younger generation in the last three to four years. Earlier, the average age of persons suffering from heart attacks was 40 years. At present, the age has come down to below 30 years. On an average, a cardiologist treats at least five to six young patients, who need angioplasty, a surgical process that involves opening blocked arteries.
“A vital fact that everybody forgets is that once a person crosses teenage years, blockage in arteries starts. The speed at which the level of blockages increases depends on several factors. The prime reason being the lifestyle of the young, which is speeding up the blockages. This is causing heart ailments among the young people,” says Dr Sridhar Kasturi, senior interventional cardiologist, Aware Global Hospitals.
Smoking continues to remain the biggest reason for this alarming rise of the disease among youngsters. “We certainly see a lot more younger patients with heart ailments, people who are in their thirties and sometimes even younger. The main reason for this is smoking. Among non-smokers too this is increasing, and this maybe due to unhealthy lifestyle, consumption of junk food and stress,” explains Dr G Anil Krishna, cardiologist at Sunshine Heart Institute.
Experts assert that 10 to 15 per cent of the youngsters who come with heart ailments do not have any habits or underlying condition. “This could be due to either genetic disposition or high levels of stress that one has to face in Hyderabad,” Dr Kasthuri observes. To make matters worse, doctors feel that most of the youngsters falling prey to heart ailments are highly educated. “They are educated but are not aware. Many just neglect until the heart block, which is only 30 per cent initially graduates to 70 per cent. Doctors have very less time to save such young lives,” Dr Kasthuri added.