When Heart Matters More Than Matters Of The Heart!

Have often have you woken up to your daily newspaper endorsing the ‘healthiest’ heart oil brand? Or how often has your office conducted activities that ensure that you have a ‘healthy heart’? Have you been inundated with promo SMS’s offering you an attractive discount on cardiac health check-up packages? Has your neighborhood gym hounded you to sign-up for a membership for cardiac health?

Well, it is no rocket science that growing prevalence of heart diseases in India is providing ample opportunities to market these brands. Cardiac ailments killed more Indians in 2016 (28%) than any other non-communicable diseases, as per a study published in the health journal The Lancet in 2018. And here is the hard hitting fact; these numbers have doubled from those reported in 1990s.

While every other person can give you information overload on the do’s and don’ts for a healthy heart,  as India’s leading IVD Company, we thought it would be a good idea to let you know what we are best at; giving you solutions for the early diagnosis to prevent heart disease.

Know the risk factors
Smoking, high blood pressure, high cholesterol and diabetes are the precursors to a heart disease. Healthy eating, regular exercise, a soundful sleep and keeping a tab on your stress are some of the small efforts that every individual can take for their heart health. Regular health checkups can help keep a tab on the critical parameters and help in planning a lifestyle modification program.   

It’s all in the blood!
Without underplaying the importance of a healthy lifestyle, we would like to bring to the forefront the importance of conducting regular health checks which includes radiological and pathological tests. It is no secret that as the most vital body fluid, blood is a powerhouse of information to know one’s state of physical wellbeing. Let’s get acquainted with some of the most important cardiac indicators:

Diagnostic markers and why they are important

Cholesterol
Needs no introduction! When you can’t blame it on anything else blame it on this steroid, essential to make hormones for development, growth, reproduction and the bile acids to absorb nutrients from food. A small amount of cholesterol circulates in the blood in complex particles called lipoproteins, classified into high, low and very low density lipoproteins (HDL, LDL and VLDL respectively) depending on their density. HDL (also referred to as good cholesterol carries cholesterol away for disposal) while LDL (also referred to as bad cholesterol deposits it in the tissues). So obviously high levels of HDL and low levels of LDL are desired. Cholesterol is an important parameter used for screening the risk of developing a heart disease or to monitor the effectiveness of lipid-lowering therapy. Your doctor would advise you to undergo a total cholesterol test to get a better insight into the HDL and LDL levels, as a part of the lipid profile. 

Triglycerides
A form of fat, Triglycerides are a major source of energy. Most triglycerides are found in the fat (adipose tissue). After a person eats, a large amount of triglycerides are found in the blood as the body converts energy into fat, to be utilized later and in between meals, they are released back into the blood to be used as an energy source. High levels of triglycerides are associated with an increased risk of developing CVD, though the reason for it is unclear. 

CK-MB
Patients who are brought in an emergency with a chest discomfort, are initially assessed for myocardial infarction (heart attack) through an ECG and blood test. Specific proteins such as CK-MB (Creatine Kinase-MB) are normally present within the heart cells and released into blood post a heart attack, thereby indicating damage. However, CK-MB is not specific to the heart and is also found in other muscles, although in small amounts. Hence CK-MB is often advised as a follow-up to a CK test, which is more specific to muscle damage. Chest pain and increased CK levels with elevated CK-MB is an indication of a heart attack, or a subsequent heart attack. 

Apolipoprotein A1 and Apolipoprotein B
Lipids alone cannot dissolve in blood. Apolipoproteins are the proteins that combine with lipids to make lipoproteins. Apolipoprotein A1 is the main protein component in HDL and is tested if you have low levels of HDL. Likewise, Apolipoprotein B1 is the main component in LDL and indicates LDL levels. An increased ratio of Apo B to Apo A1 may indicate a higher risk of developing CVD. 

Lipoprotein (a)
Lipoprotein(a) is a type of lipoprotein that carries LDL. Levels of Lp(a) are measured to evaluate the risk of developing a CVD. It is considered a risk factor just like LDL but doesn’t respond to the treatment process like LDL does. This is because the amount of Lp(a) is determined by the inherited genes and remains constant. 

Hs-CRP
Hs-CRP is one of the growing number of cardiac risk markers. CRP (C-reactive protein) increases in the blood with inflammation and infection as well following a heart attack. A high sensitivity CRP test accurately detects low levels of CRP to identify low but persistent inflammation levels and thus helps predict a person's risk of developing CVD in healthy people. Normal but slightly high levels of CRP in otherwise healthy individuals can predict the future risk of a heart attack even when cholesterol levels are within an acceptable range.