Are we really faring well on our heart’s health? While most of us are aware of the basic ‘do’s’ and ‘don’ts’ of heart’s healthy living, how many of us consciously step up to keep our hearts disease free or are capable of helping others in an emergency situation? Irrespective of repeated warnings and heart health awareness campaigns, it is said that by 2030, India alone will account for 60% of the world’s cardiac patients, nearly four times its share of the world’s population. The alarming statistics is blamed on the lack of awareness towards a ‘healthy’ lifestyle and the lack of knowledge of a few simple steps that can be taken during an emergency or before reaching the hospital. This was emphasised by many city hospitals as they got innovative to bring about the much needed change
Modern living with its adverse lifestyles of smoking, improper diet, sedentary dispositions and stress, etc. has affected all and most primarily, corporate employees. The impact is the rising prevalence of chronic disease factors and silent killers such as obesity, hypertension, and type 2 diabetes. This, in turn, has resulted in urban Indians experiencing cardiac problems even at early ages. WHO census statistics says that approximately 4280 out of every one lakh people die every year from sudden cardiac arrest (SCA) in India alone.
While health trends do point to individuals hitting the gyms in more numbers, a lack of basic understanding of the why’s and don’ts can help pave good health and especially heart health in the long run. While managing one’s own heart health is imperative, the need of the hour is to know and act upon basic techniques that can help a cardiac arrest victim in the most crucial ‘hour’ of revival.
Dr Vivek Jawali, Chairman, Department of Cardio Vascular Sciences, Chairman of the Medical Advisory Council, Fortis Hospitals, Bengaluru said, “India is going through an epidemiologic transition whereby the burden of communicable diseases have declined slowly, but that of Non-Communicable Diseases (NCD) has risen rapidly, thus leading to a dual burden. People are becoming a victim of heart disease due to a lot of factors which comprises of sedentary lifestyle to lack of awareness regarding keeping one’s heart healthy.... A simple four-point formula of not smoking, keeping physically active, eating right and reducing excess weight will cut the risk of heart attacks and stroke by a large percentage. Innovative methods need to be developed to overcome these challenges. Some approaches that could potentially improve the efficiency of care include incorporating information communication technology tools, advanced techniques and improving the quality of care given to patients.”
To this end, knowledge of Basic Life Support (BLS) and Cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) goes a long way in dealing with emergency cardiac patients. However, medical experts say that timely intervention during an emergency is the biggest gainer. “Out of the people who die from heart attack, about 50% die within an hour of their initial symptoms before they reach the hospital. The chances of survival of any victim can increase significantly if they are provided CPR immediately. Hence, people present at the scene can help avert the risk of death by providing CPR promptly to the victim.”
Doctors from Columbia Asia Referral Hospital, Yeshwanthpur (CARHY) have been educating people to take charge and be aware of BLS and CPR techniques that can successfully improve the quality of life of the victim. Apollo Hospitals launched its ‘Healthy Heart’ programme on the occasion of the World Heart Day on 29th September. This programme is one of the service additions in Dr Prathap Chandra Reddy’s ‘dream of taking Apollo up along unexplored trajectories’ of healing and health.
An eminent cardiologist and founder of Apollo Hospitals, Reddy said, “Around 20% of heart patients across Apollo Hospitals are in the age group of 25-35 years. With these numbers, it is difficult to guarantee that Young India will be able to have a healthy heart in the future. “The need of the hour is a ‘heart disease prevention and reversal’ programme, a unique combination of personalised monitoring, counselling, treatment, diet, yoga, micronutrients and meditation. Our plan is to make India heart attack-proof,” he said.
Most medical practitioners explain that ‘time’ is the saviour while treating any heart attack and cardiac arrest victims.
In doing so, they said that providing BLS and CPR during the ‘golden hour’ can help in preventing pre-hospital deaths from injuries as well as heart attack if there is a delay in receiving hospital treatment or medical care. “Mostly, the steps we take in haste while attending to an emergency, makes a deep-rooted impact in saving the life of the patient. Thus, it is vital for all to learn the BLS and CPR techniques, so that we can take the right measures when required,” said Dr Firozahmad Torgal, Consultant Emergency Medicine, Columbia Asia Referral Hospital, Yeshwanthpur.
“These are simple steps like early recognition and initiating chest compression in cardiac arrest or protecting cervical spine with c-collar in road traffic accident victims and for this you don’t need to be an expert in medicine to take these life-saving steps. Therefore, CPR and BLS should be made mandatory in secondary level of education and to all public service job holders as the chances of survival of the victim increase double- fold if appropriate emergency medical care is provided immediately,” added Dr Torgal.
“When the heart stops beating, blood flow to the body organs ceases. Of all the organs, brain is affected first. People become unconscious within 15-20 seconds after the heart stops and chances of brain recovery decreases with time so much so that irreversible brain damage is common if circulation is not restored within five minutes of cardiac arrest,” explained Dr Prabhakar Shetty Heggunje, Chief of Cardiology, Columbia Asia Referral Hospital, Yeshwanthpur.
“When the heart stops beating, blood flow to the body organs ceases. Of all the organs,brain is affected first. People become unconscious with in 15 -20 seconds after the heart stops and chances of brain recovery decreases with time so much so that irreversible brain damage is common if circulation is not restored within five minutes of cardiac arrest”
—Dr Prabhakar Shetty Heggunje,Chief of Cardiology, Columbia Asia Referral Hospital, Yeshwanthpur
“The need of the hour is to train common people to do CPR and BLS before the victim reaches the hospital. This training will help them to learn special skills required to deal with heart-related emergencies. Skills to perform CPR through chest compressions, maintaining victim’s breathing by providing appropriate rescue breaths, can greatly improve the chances of survival of these unfortunate people,” Dr Heggunje added.
Dr Prabhakar Shetty, Cardiologist, Columbia Asia Hospital, Hebbal, asserted the need for walking to save our individual hearts! He said, “We often ignore the benefits of walking daily. Brisk walking has enormous benefits to overall health of a person and to the cardiac health in particular. Some of the benefits include lowering blood pressure, improving insulin sensitivity, burning extra calories, improving good cholesterol or HDL levels, agile muscles and joints.” “Give up the elevator for stairs; park your car half a kilometre far from your destination, and while at work take short breaks and go out for 10 to 15 minutes of walk,” said Dr Ananth N. Rao, General Manager, Columbia Asia Hospital, Hebbal.
In case studies released by Columbia Asia Hospital, a 44-year-old man had collapsed and required urgent medical attention. Doctors from Columbia Asia confirmed whether the wife of the victim knew BLS. The hospital sent an advanced cardiac life support team along with the ambulance as the wife was unaware of the basic techniques. A team of professionals from Columbia Asia, who were trained by the American Heart Association tried reviving the victim on their way to the hospital. After effective CPR for 45 minutes in the emergency department, the patient was however declared dead. The medical team felt that had the victim’s wife or some neighbours been aware of CPR, the patient could have survived.
According to Dr Keshava, Consultant Interventional Cardiologist, Fortis Hospital, Cunningham Road, Bengaluru, “Cardiovascular diseases have been gaining importance in India recently because of increased incidence of the disease. It is the first among top five causes of deaths in Indian population. I come across patients who suffer from heart-related disorders due to lack of physical activities, and poor eating habits. ‘Charge your hearts’ is our initiative to include people and work towards a healthy cause. The day promotes preventative measures and steps that people should inculcate in their lifestyle to keep heart attacks at bay. Let us not wait for the 29th of September each year to push our ‘heart’; be heart-healthy everyday!
By Sangeeta Ghosh Dastidar
