CVD cases rising in youth due to lack of diagnostic testing culture in India

New Delhi [India]: The incidence of heart attacks among Indian youth has increased significantly. Thanks to utter neglect for preventive care concerning cardiovascular disease and the lack of preventive care ecosystem in India.

Dr. Swadeep Srivastava, Healthcare communication expert and Co-Founder & President, India Health Link (IHL), while addressing a gathering at a press conference on a study ‘Preventing Heart diseases in Youth: Growing evidence of a link between Waist Hip Ratio (WHR), and CVDs conducted by India Health Link (IHL) said, “Due to the lack of diagnostic testing culture in India, 75% of the population never goes for diagnostic tests that is the reason why they miss the early signs that (CVDs). One of the main factors contributing to the rising CVD cases among Indians, which have increased significantly as younger Indians now have a 10 times higher rate of heart attacks, is a lack of early screening.                                                                                    

While presenting the study revelation on the growing evidence of a link between Waist Hip Ratio (WHR), BP & BMI, and CVDs, Dr. Satyender Goel, Founder & CEO, India Health Link (IHL), said, “Considering the essence of screening to prevent the onset of diseases, and to fill the existing gaps in primary healthcare we have introduced a first-of-its-kind connected ‘human-centric’ Phygital (physical+digital) screening ecosystem, which includes the award-winning ATM size ‘made in India’ Health Pod (‘hPod‘) for zero assistance automated vitals screening. And the Health Pod also complements National Digital Health Mission (NDHM) as it creates personalized Health accounts and IDs in line with the ABHA account.” 

Dr. Goel further added, “Through this user-friendly ecosystem, anyone can get their screening done for over 20 metabolic vitals including BMI, SpO2, BP, ECG, MBC, Body & Visceral Fat, etc., within 5 minutes followed by an instant report, and become a part of National Digital Health Mission. Out of over 140 crore population in India, only 21.9 crore Ayushman Bharat Health Account (ABHA) IDs have been created as of now.” 

The study has revealed a strong correlation between the increasing Waist Hip Ratio, BMI, BP, and the rising incidence of CVDs in the younger population. But in the study, one striking finding revealed that 80% of hypertensive women are obese, and 67% of them have a high Waist Hip Ratio. And overall, women were found to be more at risk of undiagnosed cardiovascular problems than men. Further, 48% of people were found to be either hypertensive or at risk of becoming hypertensive 30% of people have a high Waist Hip Ratio (WHR) – an early indication of the onset of CVDs. 

Emphasizing the need for focussing on preventive cardiology to move toward heart wellness, while speaking during a press conference on a study conducted by India Health Link (IHL), Dr. H K Chopra, Sr. Consultant Cardiologist, Medanta Moolchand Heart Institute, New Delhi Chairman, CME, Moolchand Medicity, New Delhi, President, World Heart Academy, Former National President, CSI, IAE said, “Recent data published by WHO, ICMR, and the Union Ministry of Health reveals that 10-15% of people in India are getting heart attacks below the age of 40 years. Persons having high visceral fat are more prone to heart attack and other CVDs. Hypertension is a silent killer, and I call it a Tsunami as 90% of the people have uncontrolled hypertension, wherein 42% of people don’t know that they have hypertension. And this is happening because 65% of people have metabolic syndrome in India. So, the bigger question is how to curb such syndrome leading to heart illness; the single answer is preventive cardiology. And for preventive cardiology, we should have a screening machine to check whether our metabolism is working properly or not. To fill the gap in preventive cardiology, quick service digital health kiosks like IHL’s hPod demonstrate to be a panacea in filling the primary and preventive care gap in India, creating digital health records for the population in the informal sector. The award-winning IHL’s Health Pod (‘hPod’) is a unique self-service ATM size machine to test 20+ metabolic vitals, including BMI, SpO2, BP, ECG, MBC, Body & Visceral Fat, etc., within 5 minutes with the instant report without any paramedic assistance.”

Startling Statistics on CVDs

• 50% of CVD-related deaths occur in people less than 50 years of age 
• Younger Indians have a 10 times higher rate of heart attack
• 10-15% of people are getting heart attacks below the age of 40 years
• 42% of people don’t know that they have hypertension
• 65% of people have metabolic syndrome in India70% of Indians will fall victim to an early heart attack by 2030
• 36,000 heart attack occurs in Delhi every year
• Persons having high visceral fat are more prone to heart attack and other CVDs