The Complete Overview of Heart Diseases in India

The heart is the most valuable organ in the human body. It is responsible for circulating fresh blood filled with oxygen and nutrients throughout the entire body, ensuring that they function properly and remove all of the waste products that are found in the body. It is also responsible for operating your entire body, and requires a lot of maintenance by both natural and man-made means. Inability to do so leads to a lot of harmful and dangerous complications that can be fatal if left untreated, and individuals have had plenty of heart related issues over time that have also led to various types of medical conditions.

India has been one of the largest benefactors of patients suffering from different types of heart diseases in the world, and with many conditions that exclusively affect the elderly and more mature population of India now affecting the younger population, and with many factors that have a significant impact on the heart such as the constant shift in lifestyle, rapid urbanization, immense rise in stress levels throughout the youth and elderly, unhealthy diet choices that lead to excessive weight gain and more pressure on the heart, and lastly unethical habits of smoking on a daily basis.

There are also several million cases in India alone that are not diagnosed yet still display many signs and symptoms of any prevalent heart conditions and are very silent about this due to not knowing what to do. This is even more heartbreaking when you realize that a large chunk of these cases could have actually been easily avoidable if the patients could have adjusted their lifestyle choices and go to a medical expert to intervene much earlier, when the signs just started to show themselves.

Let’s have a bit of a deeper dive through these heart conditions, how to spot them and what remedies can be offered to lessen the potential risks for the heart in India.

What are the most important statistics to keep in mind for a heart disease?

The leading cause of death in India when it comes to heart-related conditions is the Cardiovascular Diseases, which would total up to 28% of the affected population.

The Indian population is much more susceptible to getting any type of heart condition at least 10 years prior to many other countries whose patients have shown to be a lot older.

According to an astute study by ‘The Lancet’, around 50% of the heart attack victims in India are below the age of 50 and even 25% of those affected are under 40.

Due to a modern change in most villages in India, the rate at which many individuals get some form of heart condition is rising at 7-8%, in comparison to more urban areas getting an 11-12%.

Indian adults have been shown to get an increase in diabetic conditions, with about 33% getting an excessive amount of high blood pressure of which 11% of them are diabetic, which creates a large risk for a lot of heart diseases to come.

What are heart diseases?

Conditions that have been shown to affect the heart in any negative type of way are known as a Heart Disease. There are a variety of different types of heart diseases, such as the Coronary Heart Disease, which has been shown to affect the blood vessels that lead to your heart due to an excessive amount of plaque building up and may lead to complications for the heart. There are also the severe amounts of chest pain that is common during heart conditions and is a great indicator for potential fatal heart conditions such as heart attacks, heart failure, and even Congenital Heart Failure, which many individuals acquire the moment they are born.

 

Why should we understand Heart Health?

 

It is very important to know the vast difference between a healthy heart and a heart with conditions, as that would efficiently determine the well-being and their life expectancy. The several ways to ensure the heart stays healthy for a majority of your life would require an immense amount of knowledge when it comes to the way the heart works. It is mainly used to send oxygen and nutrients all across the body while also lowering the burden on your heart at the same time. This change can also be great for the environment and quality of life that the patient requires their entire life, and with the proper amount of care, medical checkups and even appropriate exercises that are required to keep the heart in a healthy manner.

 

What are some of the most common symptoms for heart disease in India?

 

Individuals who are experiencing excruciating pain and numbness in their chest cavity have very strong chances of getting a serious heart condition or are even under the process of going through a condition at the moment.

Shortness of breath is yet another major symptom that occurs during or before any heart condition and diseases arise, and usually happens whenever there is an insignificant amount of blood circulating throughout your body, and can often lead to an excess amount of fluid that builds up in your lungs, leading to Heart Failure.

In case you have suddenly got a large and unexplainable case of fatigue and weakness that persists all the time, it may be indicative of major heart conditions. This happens whenever the blood is not processed correctly and there is not enough circulation around the body, which often leads to extreme fatigue.

A rather frightening symptom that many patients freak out on is an irregular heartbeat. This phenomenon happens because of some issues that arise due to the heartbeat and its rhythm. There are also cases where severe amounts of stress, anemia and even further heart conditions that have not yet been found in the body.

Lastly, an important indication that you may have a severe heart condition is the intense swelling that happens around the ankles and the legs due to improper pumping of blood within the body that leads to some excess fluid flowing down towards the bottom of the body, building up till it causes redness and is swollen.

 

What are some early signs to look out for?

 

Always be aware of silent symptoms

 

One of the most dangerous aspects of a heart condition or disease is its ability to happen nigh-instantaneously, with very little, if any, warning signs. This is where you have to take note of events that seem to indicate any sort of anomaly that might have happened without you even noticing, such as a very minor and therefore, ‘Silent’ heart failure or heart attack. This can lead to a much more serious condition if you have not contacted a doctor regarding a standard heart check-up in order to ensure you have not gotten any type of heart condition that you might have missed some time prior.

The differences in gender have also been a rather prominent issue for heart conditions, where women have been shown to be more affected by heart diseases that have atypical or less common symptoms that are noticeable, such as experiencing a shortness of breath and nausea which, unfortunately, more times than not, have been sidelined by not being very important indicators for a heart condition as serious as heart failure or a heart attack, which ultimately has led to many casualties for not having a proper diagnosis done to their body at the correct time.

 

What are the major types of heart diseases?

 

Coronary Heart Disease

This common heart condition only happens during an excessive amount of plaque buildup that restricts blood flow across the body and leads to many instances of chest pains that stay on for a long time as well as potential heart attacks.

 

Heart Arrhythmia

Popularly known as an “Irregular Heartbeat”, this heart condition has been known to occur whenever the amount of electrical signals sent towards your heart let it know to either start beating quicker or slower on a random time slot which has a major effect on the body.

 

Congenital Heart Defects

This is a condition that is contrived at birth and mostly happens whenever the blood vessels are not properly developed in the first couple of weeks after being born, which has extreme complications later on in life which may require constant medical attention to the heart.

 

Cardiomyopathy

This particular heart condition has the ability to weaken the heart muscles indefinitely, which makes it very hard to properly pump adequate blood across the body, leading to large amounts of fatigue and much more serious conditions like heart failure.

 

Heart Valve Disease

This is a complex heart condition that happens whenever one of the 4 main valves of the heart stops functioning completely. This is important due to how the valves work, as one section allows blood to enter and filter while the other section lets it travel to the rest of the body.

 

What are the causes and risk factors?

 

Lifestyle choices

For a lot of patients suffering from heart conditions, one of the main reasons why they have such a condition is the way they have been living. From choices that led to excessive consumption of oily and fat-filled foods to the unhealthy amounts of junk food that are eaten on a daily basis. This is only increased by the significant lack of any physical activity done by the patient for a considerable amount of time.

Genetic History

If a patient’s family history is filled with heart related conditions, it is only natural that the chances of a severe heart condition happen to them more often than a normal individual. This may be different for many people who have received a genetic variation of a specific heart disease that may cause more harm to them than their predecessors have.

Age and Gender

The role of both age and gender in relation to heart risks and conditions may vary, but are all very important to take note of. A serious heart condition is much more common in an elderly individual rather than a younger one, with younger males having a much more likelihood of getting serious heart conditions, while women are not as likely to receive some severe conditions, but their chances increase as soon as their menopause ends.

 

How are heart diseases diagnosed?

 

Physical Examinations

This will most likely be the most appropriate way of getting the correct idea of what might be wrong with your heart’s condition. With proper tests and frequent visits to the doctor, the diagnosis you get in relation to the heart and its issues will be as detailed as possible to highlight what is wrong with your heart and what you need to do to improve its functionality.

 

Blood Tests

These tests are responsible for important diagnoses that are able to keep track and monitor plenty of risk factors such as keeping track of the levels of cholesterol present in the blood, whether there is any inflammation in the body, and even heart muscle tears that are found in traces within the sample of a blood sample. All of these factors are responsible for helping the medical examiner perform a correct diagnosis for the patient.

 

Electrocardiogram

This test has been proven useful in reading and recording all of the electrical signals that are transported to the heart’ beating, and is able to figure out whether there are any errors found within the rhythm. Doctors have used the EKG to find potential heart attacks and other heart disorders before they are actually present.

Echocardiogram

This test can efficiently utilize the technology of ultrasound which is able to create images of the heart, and allows doctors to figure out what might be going wrong with the heart and its functionality as a whole as well as noting down any ill-effects that are visible from the screen.

 

Stress Tests

These physically demanding tests have been at the forefront of pushing the heart to its limit in order to understand if a patient’s heart can react to the increase in strain in an appropriate manner or if it simply cannot keep up, which shows signs of Coronary Heart Disease.

Cardiac Catheterization

This is a rather complicated test that happens when a very small and thin tube that is extremely flexible and is transported through a blood stream into the heart to check its condition. This will map the structure of the heart for future reference whenever doctors look at the scan to ensure everything is as intended and working perfectly normally.

CT and MRI scan for the heart

Scanning heart for a full diagnosis of the heart to scratch out potential major disorders that might be found through these methods. It has also been used for checking for potential blockages found within the arteries, notes down how well the pumping function properly works, and even points out certain issues such as inflammation and tissue scars.

 

When should you see a doctor?

 

You are required to see a doctor whenever there are symptoms that need to be addressed by the doctors, such as shortness of breath, painful chest pains, or you are having a very detailed family history having heart conditions for many generations. Always keep a good idea of the risk factors that surround your life before you interact with your doctor.

Always ensure you receive the best routine heart health check-ups available for checking the blood pressure, the regular cholesterol tests and even the regular monitoring of the heart to prevent the risk factors from affecting your heart’s health and its quality of blood production.

 

Conclusion

Having a heart disease is a very serious issue that can be tempered if taking the correct procedures and tests. These cases have spiraled upwards in India to an unprecedented degree. With the proper care and techniques performed by medical professionals and the healthy habits and lifestyle choice that you can pick up and change, your risk for getting a very serious heart condition lowers to a very significant margin.
Proper timely diagnosis and effective management of your health as well as the physical exercise needed to improve the health of your heart is an absolute necessity for those who wish to have healthy hearts their entire life.

 

Medical Disclaimer - The information that has been written is only to be used for educational purposes. There has been no information presented by this website, be it text, images and graphics that should be taken as professional medical advice. Always consult with your doctor regarding any medical advice that may relate to your condition.