Twenty-four “sudden” deaths over 40 days in May-June this year in Hassan district, suspected to be due to cardiac issues, have sent shock waves across the state. Of these deaths, 14 were aged under-45 while 10 were over that age. Even before the facts behind the deaths were established, a section of experts, politicians and the general public jumped the gun to speculate that the sudden increase in cardiac deaths was due to Covid-19 vaccine-induced clotting, affecting the cardiovascular system.
The Karnataka government ordered an investigation into the deaths by the Director, Sri Jayadeva Institute of Cardiovascular Sciences (SJICS), Bengaluru. The probe report, which came out on July 10, concluded that the deaths did not indicate any increase in sudden cardiac deaths in the district. It was almost the same as in the previous months in Hassan district. Analysis of cardiac cases data at SJICS, Bengaluru, and its peripheral centres in Mysuru and Kalaburagi, in the last six months also did not show any increasing trends in cardiac deaths.
The report also stated that definitive conclusions about cause of deaths in each case were limited due to lack of autopsy data, clinical data and limited history from family members. However, it did note that the occurrences of sudden deaths in younger adults underscored the growing burden of premature cardiovascular disease. The report called for early cardiovascular screening programs and health education, and establishing mandatory investigation protocols (including post-mortems) for all sudden deaths in apparently healthy young adults.
The deaths in Hassan districts have rattled many. But it must be remembered that cardiovascular disease (CVD) has been a major health concern – in fact at epidemic proportions – not only in Karnataka, but across India, from much before the Covid-19 pandemic and the vaccines came on the scene. Moreover, international studies have failed to conclusively prove a link between the Covid-19 vaccines and cardiac-related incidents or deaths.
According to a Global Burden of Disease study, the CVD death rate in India is 272 per 1,00,000 population, higher than the global average of 235/1 lakh population.
The Indian Journal of Forensic and Community Medicine says CVD is a major health concern in Karnataka, and the leading cause of death in the 40+ age group. Approximately 18% of adults in urban Karnataka and nearly 16% in rural areas are projected to experience serious cardiovascular events like heart attacks or strokes within the next decade. Risk factors for CVD are largely modifiable, making it crucial to document baseline and future trends.
What has shocked people over the Hassan deaths is the apparent suddenness of it, that too among relatively young individuals, especially considering an increasing number of sudden deaths among below-40 adults across the country. The probe report cites this as “a matter of concern and cannot be overlooked”.
But many of these individuals who died in Hassan district had identifiable risk factors such as smoking, alcohol use, obesity, hypertension, or a family history of heart disease. Four of the 24 deaths were non-cardiac deaths – one suffering from chronic kidney disease, one from road accident-related problems, one from an acute gastroenteritis infection, and one from suspected electrocution.
Of the 20 remaining, ten were confirmed cardiac deaths – three were post-bypass surgery, post-angioplasty and dilated cardiomyopathy (heart failure), respectively, while the remaining seven confirmed cardiac deaths included four being detected based on autopsy evidence and three on ECG evidence of heart attack.
The suspected Covid-19 link to CVD issues is a recent concern. But CVDs for years have been known to be driven primarily by a combination of traditional risk factors, lifestyle choices, and emerging sedentary lifestyle trends, with hypertension, diabetes, high cholesterol, obesity, smoking and high alcohol consumption being the key factors.
These are compounded by poor diet, stress, lack of physical activity, air pollution, and genetic predisposition to cardiac issues, which contribute to rising prevalence of CVDs. While people suspect fatal side-effects of the Covid-19 vaccine – which is not yet scientifically proved and convincingly conveyed – why have they been largely ignoring the already convincingly proven potentially fatal side-effects of the long-known factors that lead to CVDs?
That the Covid-19 vaccines were ushered by a government ruled by a party at the Centre following a different ideology than the one ruling in Karnataka now makes it easily prone to politically loaded statements being delivered to either attack or defend the vaccines by either side. But the very mechanism and nature of politics in India is like that – almost everything by a ruling party is criticized by the opposition.
So Covid vaccines and their assumed ill-effects are no exceptions to the rule. However, when it comes to a sensitive issue like health, people would do better to remember Mark Adam Hyman, an American physician and author, who stated: “Lifestyle change and changes in diet work faster, better and more cheaply than any medication, and are as effective, or more effective, than gastric bypass, without any side effects or long-term complications.”
Let’s not try passing the buck on an unproven culprit than the already proven ones.