On World Heart Day, noted cardiologist Dr Devi Shetty warns that recent cardiac-related deaths of celebrities are not "sudden heart attacks".
Representational picture of Cardiac Arrest. (Wikimedia Commons)
Terming the recent cardiac-related deaths of celebrities, athletes, and singers as not “sudden heart attacks,” noted Indian cardiologist Dr Devi Prasad Shetty said, “They could have been anticipated 10 years earlier if only they had a CT angio done, which could have picked up at least 5 percent of the blockage. If that patient had changed their lifestyle, their deaths could have been prevented.”
He was talking about computerised tomography (CT) coronary angiogram, an imaging test that takes a look at the arteries that supply blood to the heart.
The test helps detect blockages and other problems in these arteries, and help doctors advise patients to make lifestyle changes and prescribe treatments for cardiovascular diseases (CVDs).
In a video message shared with South First, Shetty, the chairman and founder of Narayana Health, said, “All Indians above 40 years of age, please get a CT angio or CT scan of your heart at least once in 10 years. This will detect even minor coronary artery diseases and prevent heart attacks in the future.”
Explaining how the recent celebrity heart attacks were not really “sudden heart attacks”, Shetty said, “We see young actors, athletes, and singers with six packs and big muscles suddenly dropping down dead. It was never a sudden heart attack. Their heart attack could have been anticipated ten years earlier if they only had a CT angio done.”
Even though there is no Indian data to prove that Covid-19 affected cardiac health, cardiologists, based on anecdotal data, argue that post-pandemic heart attack and heart failure cases have gone up 25-30 percent, which is one-fourth more than what they claim to have seen in 2021.
“At Narayana Multispeciality Hospital, HSR, we are noticing a 25-30 percent rise in heart attacks in patients less than 55 years of age as compared to the pre-Covid-19 days. Over 70 percent of the total patients, including women, being admitted belong to the 35-45 age group, followed by those aged 45-55 years,” said Dr Gundurao Harish Joshi, a consultant of adult cardiology at the hospital in Bengaluru.
Bengaluru-based Dr Rohit Chopra, MD, DM (Cardiology), Chief Interventional Cardiologist on the HealthPlix EMR Platform, said the prevalence of CVDs has increased rapidly in both urban and rural India.
“Post Covid-19, the situation has worsened with an increase in sudden cardiac deaths among young adults and acute heart attacks in the younger population,” he added.
However, with no scientific research on these from India and the risk vs benefit of the vaccination programme pointing towards a very low percentage of people showing up blocks in arteries post-vaccination, experts argue that it cannot be considered the primary cause of cardiac deaths.
“For anything in the science to be proven and evidence to be generated, it takes a lot of time. Keeping this in mind, a large body of evidence is required, and we can’t arrive at conclusions with small observations,” Interventional Cardiologist Dr Abhijit Vilas Kulkarni told South First.
“Though as medical professionals we know that vaccines, in some cases, can increase the formation of clots, we cannot prove it as a significant number when we are making observations of for instance 20 deaths in about 4 crore vaccinations administered,” he added.
Cardiologists say that the management of heart conditions requires regular health checkups and timely interventions.
Healthy exercise of 30 minutes of moderate intensity for five days a week is one of the best ways to keep the heart healthy.
Gundurao said, “We must remember that Indians have a much higher genetic predisposition to heart diseases as compared to their counterparts in the West. The insights from our preventive health checkups are even more concerning. They pointed to an increase in incidences of pre-diabetes, type 2 diabetes, metabolic syndrome, dyslipidemia, pre-hypertension, hypertension and silent ischaemia.”
He added: “Many attribute this increase to the novel SARS-CoV-2 virus as it can affect our body functions. However, the spike in heart attacks cannot be completely attributed to Covid-19.”
Regular checkups are essential to know how the conditions of people’s hearts.
Kulkarni said: “Even before hitting the gym or registering for a marathon, it is important to get a cardiac health check done.”
The tests include:
Dr Manjunath CN, Director, Jayadeva Institute for Cardiovascular Diseases and Research Centre in Karnataka, said, “Anyone with a family history of heart diseases should also screen for risk factors like diabetes, obesity, hypertension, urine tests.”
He added: “There are also advanced tests that can be done once a year like high sensitivity C-reactive protein tests, which can help the doctor decide if a person is at risk of heart attacks.”
Kulkarni said ECG tests, exercise stress tests, echocardiogram, and treadmill tests could be done once a year.
If any complications are found, then coronary angiogram, MRI and coronary computed tomography cngiogram (CCTA) are some of the other tests that can be done.
The doctors also insisted that people across professions should be CPR-trained.
Kulkarni said: “It is not always possible for the ambulance to reach the needy person at the right time. If people around are CPR-trained, several lives can be saved. There have been many instances where people come to our hospital after preliminary CPR, and survive a heart attack because of it.”
The cardiologists unanimously insisted that state governments provide CPR training sessions to all government employees, gym trainers, security guards, banking professionals, teachers, nurses, ASHA workers, and corporate employees, among others.
For medical professionals including nurses and ambulance drivers, Advance Cardiac Life Support (ACLS) certification training could help, said the doctors.
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