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Comedian Raju Srivastava passed away in Delhi on Wednesday, 21 September, according to reports.
The 58-year-old was admitted to AIIMS Hospital in Delhi after suffering a mild heart attack on 10 August.
Speaking to the media earlier this month, his wife shared that he was in a stable condition, though he was still on ventilator support.
According to media reports, he had had the heart attack in a gym in Delhi. It has been said that Srivastava suffered the attack while exercising on the thread-mill.
What is the reason behind the increase in heart attacks and cardiac arrests in India?
FIT talks to heart experts to help understand this growing problem, and ways to avoid suffering from one.
Earlier, when we thought of heart attacks or heart-related diseases, we thought of them as diseases that came with old age.
Although aging is a factor, but the increasing number of heart attack cases in young people proves that this line of thinking is wrong. If recent events tells us anything, it is that young people can have heart conditions too.
The risk of heart disease starts a decade earlier in India than in the rest of the world. And stress is fast becoming one of the biggest causes of heart attacks among young Indians.
Dr Anjan Siotia further says, "There is a difference between cardiac arrest and heart attack. Which many people do not understand. Cardiac arrest causes death."
"Some may or may not have early symptoms. Many people find out they have a heart problem after a heart attack. But some people's bodies are already warning," says Dr Anjan Siotia.
According to Dr Siotia, these are some early signs to look out for.
When a heart attack occurs, there is a feeling of pressure or pain in the chest. Pressure may also be felt in the arms, throat, upper abdomen
Excessive sweating
breathlessness
Feeling weakness, fatigue
Some people may also feel gassy, like they're having an acid reflux
Vomiting is also common
Dr Manish Bansal, Director of Clinical and Preventive Cardiology, Medanta explains the causes of cardiac arrest,
A heart attack
When the heart beats too fast or too slow
Problems with the heart's electrical system
Sometimes due to an infection in the body
Severe liver or kidney damage can also lead to heart issues
Too low or too high levels of chemicals such as potassium, sodium, calcium in the blood
Within heart patients, 40 percent of the patients are also victims of diabetes.
According to doctors, the main cause of heart attack is poor lifestyle and stress. Nowadays, stress has increased a lot in people's life, especially young professionals.
People are eating more and exercising less. Cases of diabetes and blood pressure have also increased.
To sum it up, all of these factors are contributing to the increased risk of heart attack:
Poor lifestyle
Diabetes
Smoking
High cholesterol levels
Lack of physical activity
Obesity
If someone near you has a heart attack,
Give them an Aspirin tablet to chew
Give them a statin tablet
Give them Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (CRP)
Go to the nearest hospital immediately
Dr Manish Bansal says, “In such a situation, the patient should be given Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (CRP) by the people around. We recommend people to learn the procedure of Basic Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (CRP). Knowing the information can save lives."
Dr Subhash Chandra told FIT , “One important thing is that after recovering from COVID, many people immediately resumed their old physical exercises with the same intensity as they used to do before COVID without realising how COVID has disrupted their (circulatory) system. With COVID, sometimes spontaneous clots are formed in the arteries of the brain and heart, due to which some people can suffer strokes. There have also been reports of heart attacks and deaths after COVID".
"My advice is to be careful from a young age. We can only take precautions like a good lifestyle to avoid heart attack. A healthy lifestyle should become our habit. According to me, children should be taught the importance of healthy diet and physical exercise (both) at home and at school. (They) will get into the habit," says Dr Anjan Siotia.
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Published: 12 Aug 2022,09:19 AM IST