Why are so many young people getting heart attacks?

Heart attack, once considered a disease of old age, is now claiming the lives of younger people, too. The recent deaths of reality star and BJP leader Sonali Phogat, 42; actor Sidharth Shukla, 40; and actor Bramha Mishra, 36, of Mirzapur fame have again brought to the fore the rising number of heart ailments among younger citizens. As per medical experts, a decade ago, those aged between 30 and 45 only contributed to 1 or 2 per cent of heart attack deaths, which has increased to 15 to 20 per cent. Doctors pointed at lifestyle choices as the major reason.

Unhealthy lifestyle, smoking, air pollution and adoption of western work culture are some of the reasons behind the rising heart ailments among the younger citizens, say doctors, adding that those who have just started their career at a competitive workplace are getting prone to heart diseases. They, however, added that this may not always lead to fatality.

Also read: Maharashtra: 9-year-old gets heart attack, recovers after surgery

Doctors advise exercise, balanced diet and good sleep

Dr Anil Sharma, professor and head of cardiology department at Bombay Hospital, said, "More people are adopting western work culture and are very competitive and ambitious in terms of making a career and earning money, which leads to stress. And as most people are living in nuclear families, they do not have people to share their problems with or seek advice from, which means their stress keeps building up. Another reason is increasing pollution that is also affecting the youngsters."

"A decade ago, there were hardly 1 per cent or 2 per cent of younger heart patients, but now, this has increased to 15 per cent to 20 per cent, as per my observation," Dr Sharma said, adding, "We need to be social as we were before. Our Indian diet is best and yoga helps a lot to avoid any lifestyle diseases."

As per data from Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation's health department, 5,859 people died due to heart ailments in 2019. The fatality stood at 5,554 in 2020, but then the number saw a rapid rise, with 17,780 deaths only in the first six months of 2021. While the age group-wise data is not available, it shows how heart-related diseases have increased across age groups.

Dr Prashant Mishra, cardiac surgeon at Sion hospital, said, "There are two types of people. Ones who live a sedentary lifestyle with no physical activity at all and consume junk food, have inadequate sleep and have comorbidities such as hypertension and diabetes. Stress is one of the primary reasons behind heart ailments in young people. Many of my patients had stress related to job and career that work as a catalyst for heart ailments. The second type is those who do extensive workouts without any supervision, which sometimes prove fatal. The body has a limit for everything, and if we put extra pressure, we definitely have to face the consequences. Sleeping in the night is the most important. And meditation also helps to relieve stress."

Dr Amey Udyavar, consultant cardiologist at P D Hinduja Hospital, said, "Mostly obesity, poor diet, lack of exercise, high blood pressure, hypertension, smoking, consumption of alcohol, family history of patients are the causes of heart attack in young people. Inadequate sleep at night, acute stress can trigger the incident of heart attack. Smoking leads to a prothrombotic stage that causes heart attack."

"To prevent such incidents, you need to know the status of your cholesterol, diabetes and blood pressure. Adequate aerobic exercise for 35-45 minutes a day, slow jogging, swimming, cycling and a balanced diet help," he added.