Shimla, August 11, 2018: In a symposium on heart failure held in Shimla recently, doctors from Fortis Hospital, Mohali said that it is important to keep a track of your health with regular examinations. “Indians have one of the highest rates of mortality after diagnosis of heart failure, greater than that of people in several developing countries in the world,”said Dr Karun Behal, Senior Consultant, Cardiology, Fortis Hospital, Mohali.
According to an independent report, as many as 20% of the patients come to the hospital because of Heart Failure. India houses 16% of the world’s population, and 25% of the world’s Coronary Artery Disease patients. The most common cause of Heart Failure is RHD and CAD.
“Heart failure is a condition in which the heart is unable to pump enough blood to meet the body’s needs. The heart doesn’t stop beating, as happens in a cardiac arrest, but rather weakens so that it is unable to pump out all the blood that enters in chambers, either due to weakness or stiffness of heart muscle;” explained Dr Behal.
Heart failure patients in India had one of the highest mortality rates after one year of diagnosis at 23%. This was more than mortality rates of patients in Southeast Asia (15%), China (7%), South America (9%) and West Asia (9%). Only patients from countries in Africa had a higher mortality rate at 34%. The study also highlighted that heart failure patients in India, Africa and Southeast Asia were approximately 10 years younger than patients in the U.S. and Europe. To prevent the situation to go worse, doctors advised regular medical examination for quick treatment.
According to Dr Behal, one of the major reasons for the high mortality rate among Indians was that patients reached hospitals at a later stage of the disease, along with an associated high prevalence of risk factors such as diabetes and hypertension.
“In other countries, patients may present to hospitals earlier. Access to healthcare and compliance to long-term treatment is also a problem in India, as heart failure patients need to take lifelong medications,” said Dr Karun Behal.
