BENGALURU: While heart attacks have several times been attributed to stress, pollution and lifestyle, the current lockdown due to COVID-19 has brought about a reduction in the number of such cases. Calling this a global phenomenon, doctors in the city have noticed at least a 30 per cent fall in the number of heart cases since the lockdown.
Cardiologists, however, are still baffled over the cause for the reduction in cases. “We have discussed this with various doctors and speculate that this could be due to less pollution, change in lifestyle like food habits and stress,” says Dr Pradeep Haranahalli, Cardiologist of Manipal Hospital, who previously saw up to 20 cases a month as opposed to 2-4 cases since lockdown.
According to Dr Rajpal Singh, a cardiologist at Fortis Hospital, the hospital used to receive up to 60 cases a month. He now sees around 30 cases. “These are early trends that we are noticing and it is all over the world. There is a reduction in acute cardiac syndrome. Speculated theories also include fear of coming to the hospital due to COVID-19. We are expecting a surge in the number of cases once the lockdown is lifted,” he said.
Speaking to TNIE, Dr Sreekanth B Shetty of Sakra World Hospital said there are two possibilities- true reduction due to slowing down of society and an apparent reduction in cases where people could be dying in their own homes like in other countries. “If this lockdown continues, the economic realities start coming in such as layoffs and the effect of lack of physical activity. These could create a wave of increasing heart attacks,” he told TNIE. He also added that this is a new situation and that studies are yet to be conducted.