After Puneeth Rajkumar’s death, expert warns “Heart attack striking young Indians”

Pune: In a worrisome trend, there has been an unprecedented rise in incidents of heart attack among the young people due to multiple factors and in addition to Covid-19, said an expert on Sunday.

It's not very uncommon for Indians to experience heart attacks in age group of 40-45 years, as compared to the West where the heart attacks are prominent among people in age group of 60-65 years, acclaimed epidemiologist Dr Naresh Purohit told UNI here.

In the past few years, deviating from the routine pattern of striking the older population and those with pre-existing heart issues, heart diseases are now prevalent among the young -- 25 per cent of those who suffered heart attacks are below 45 years of age in the country, he said.

In this, 30 per cent are middle-aged and youngsters with no conventional risk factors like smoking, high blood pressure, diabetes, etc, he said.

Though there has been no exact reason for such myocardial infarction incidents, lifestyle choices, diet, workout routine and management of his/her stress levels can influence the possibilities of a heart attack, he pointed.

Dr Purohit observed that young people often tend to ignore the first signs and end up going to the hospital quite late.

Even when they see first signs of the heart condition, they take medicines for instant relief assuming gastric trouble, he said.

He further said that people also wrongly assume that fit guys or people who eat healthy foods will not get heart attack and this is the primary reason for catastrophic results.

To justify his point, he cited instance of actor Puneeth Rajkumar, saying that the actor experienced pain overnight and as a result, there was delay in seeking medical help.

Citing his recent research study published in the Singapore Journal of Cardiology, Dr Purohit pointed that there is evidence that high-intensity exercise can acutely increase the risk for sudden cardiac arrest or sudden death in individuals with underlying heart disease. (UNI)