HEART DISEASE PREVENTION & REHABILITATION

Author : Bhadresh Bundela

By the time you finish reading this sentence one more Indian will have died of cardiovascular disease (CVD). CVD is now the leading cause of death worldwide and in developing countries like India, the relative proportion of deaths from infectious diseases is on the decline, whilst that from chronic illnesses such as heart disease is on the rise. Contrary to popular belief heart disease is no longer the dubious distinction of the rich in India, but is prevalent in large numbers throughout the socioeconomic strata.

What is Heart disease?
Heart disease occurs when blockages build up in the arteries supplying blood to the heart. These blockages slowly build up over time due to risk factors. The major risk factors for heart disease are:
Risk factors, which cannot be modified:
Age: Men, older than 45 years and women older than 55 years are at a higher risk.
Family history: Your risk increases if a close family member (parents and siblings) has had heart disease.
Risk factors, which can be modified:
Blood Pressure: High blood pressure, which is defined as greater than 140/90 mmHg. Your ideal blood pressure should be 120/80 or below.
Diabetes: You have diabetes, if your fasting blood sugar is greater than 126 mg/dl on more than one occasion
Cholesterol: to keep your risk level low your total cholesterol should be below 200 mg/dl and your HDL cholesterol (the ‘good’ cholesterol) should be above 40 mg/dl
Smoking: Any amount of smoking or tobacco chewing is a major risk factor for heart disease and cancer.

Can heart disease be prevented?
Yes….but to prevent it, its necessary to understand the disease process. Blockages start building up in the heart’s arteries, as early as 20-30 years of age. A ‘normal’ ECG or stress test does not mean you will not have disease in the future. To effectively halt this progression you need to aggressively modify your risk factors over a lifetime, and the only way to do that is through lifestyle modification.

Know your numbers:
To keep your risk for disease as low as possible its important to ‘aggressively’ control your risk factors. ‘Borderline’ and ‘average’ values tend to slowly but surely increase risk over time:
Blood pressure Should be kept below 120/80 mmHg
Cholesterol Total cholesterol below 200 mg/dl
Triglycerides below 150 mg/dl
LDL (bad chol) below 100 mg/dl
HDL (good chol) above 40 mg/dl
Blood sugar Fasting value should be 70-110 mg/dl
Weight Body mass index below 25 kg/m2
Waist Less than 40 inches for men and 35 for women.

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