Kolkata: Acute chest pain is the most common warning sign of heart attacks.
In recent past at BM Birla Heart Research Center we have seen a number of young patients who have suffered heart attack. Symptoms of heart attack can vary between men and women. While men occasionally report nausea or dizziness, women are significantly more likely to experience atypical symptoms; sometimes leading them to disregard the signs. Apart from heart attack incidence of Sudden Cardiac Arrest (SCA) has been on the rise in the city, according to Dr. Ashok Malpani, Senior Consultant at Department of Cardiology, B.M. Birla Hospital.
According to the recent American research, it has been observed that there has been a 13% increase in SCA among those aged mid-30s to mid-40s. A few studies have also found that Indians suffer from heart disease for at least 10 years before the people in the West. This can be attributed to the family’s medical history, sedentary lifestyle, diabetes, smoking, and hypertension. As a result, there is a need to raise awareness about Sudden Cardiac Arrest, particularly among young people.
Sudden Cardiac Arrest is one of the most fatal and scary disorders in the human body, and a lot of times it may feel like it does not give a chance to fight back. Cardiac arrest is when the heart stops beating. Some 350,000 cases occur each year outside of a hospital, and the survival rate is less than 12 percent. CPR can double or triple the chances of survival. Almost Seventy-percent of cardiac arrests happen in homes and giving a proper CPR is the need of an hour and a key to survival. So, this skill set is something that needs to be learnt by the community at large.
“It is not possible to predict who will get a heart attack and when. Nobody is completely risk free from this disease and it is a fact that any of us can get a heart attack anytime even after taking medications or after undergoing bypass surgery or angioplasty. In recent times, we are getting a lot
of incidents where young people maybe in gym or while doing any activity or travelling or at rest are getting sudden cardiac arrest and are dying. A number of celebrities have witnessed such a misfortune lately,” Dr Malpani said.
“However, these lives could have been saved if people around them knew how to do CPR when they suffered the attack. CPR is a first-aid process given to a person to revive him or her who is having an episode of SCA. By knowing this lifesaving activity, one can give CPR to the person suffering a sudden cardiac arrest and bring the person to the hospital where the rest can be addressed. So, BM Birla Heart Research Center in collaboration with Rotary Club, Kolkata Presidency Club, district 3521 along with six or seven other clubs is conducting a training session at the hospital which is a CSR activity. They would be trained by the experts who will teach the Rotarians how to give CPR. So that these trained Rotarians can pass on the knowledge to their peers and people lives can be saved,”
Dr. Malpani shares his expert advice.
As there is a saying that ‘prevention is better than cure’, Dr. Malpani, explained some precautionary measures needs to be taken by the patients having major difficulties, “People with weak hearts should be particularly careful during the winter season, they should continue to exercise regularly and modify their timings to avoid this extreme weather. Taking natural antioxidants may help keep the heart healthy. Also salt and water intake should be reduced as there is no loss to sweating in winter.”
