Bangalore: This news is not for the weak-hearted. A whopping 21.52 lakh Indians died of heart attacks from January 2008 to June 2009. If that is bad, read this: The number of non-institutionalized adults with diagnosed heart disease in the country now is 24.1 million. And more Indians are dying younger.
   “Compared to our western counterparts, Indians become diabetic 10 years earlier. This exposes them to the risk of heart diseases when young. The roller coaster lifestyle coupled with our inability to deal with stress is leading to this dangerous trend,’’ said cardiac surgeon O P Sharma.
   These disturbing revelations are from the Indian Council for Medical Research, WHO and the Indian Heart Foundation, which have put India on red alert to control cardio-vascular diseases. This because, by 2020, India will have the largest cardio-vascular disease burden in the world.
   Though women have heart attacks at older ages than men, they are more likely to die from the attack within a few weeks due to the age.
   According to the study, what is dangerous for India is that heart disease is the leading cause of death among diabetics — nearly 65% of all diabetics die from coronary heart disease. For the record, there are at least 20 million diabetics in India. Interestingly, ICMR has found that a new trend is that rural folks are also being diagnosed with diabetes and constitute 2% to 3% of the ailing population.

CARDIAC CONCERNS

DID YOU KNOW?

According to cardiologists, genetically the average size of coronary aorta of Indians is smaller than that of our Western counterparts. While the size of the aorta for an Indian is 1-1.25mm, it is 2.5 to 3 mm for those living in Western countries.

WATCH YOUR HEART


• Every minute, three women died in 2008 due to cardiovascular disease.

• For men over 40, the lifetime risk of cardio-vascular disease is one in three. For women it is one in two

• One fifth of the deaths in India are from coronary heart disease. But by 2020, it will account for one third and majority of them will be youngsters

• Coronary artery heart disease is the number one cause of death in India for both men and women

WHY ARE INDIANS MORE PRONE?


• Poor stress management

• Very little or no exercise

• Sedentary lifestyle

• Consumption of fat-rich food