Thiruvananthapuram: A study conducted by the cardiology department of Sree Chitra Tirunal Institute for Medical Sciences & Technology (SCTIMST) among cardiology patients below 30 years of age found that 64% were smokers and 21% were habituated to alcohol. The most worrying factor is that 48% who had heart attacks below 30 years of age are dying in the next 20 years.
Only 4.4% did not have any of the major potentially modifiable risk factors at presentation, viz. smoking, systemic hypertension, diabetes mellitus, dyslipidaemia, alcohol abuse or obesity. The study also found that 34% of the smokers who had heart attacks started smoking again and 26% started consuming alcohol again. A majority of them were physically inactive.
“We identified that potentially modifiable risk factors, including smoking, high blood cholesterol, hypertension, alcohol abuse, obesity and diabetes mellitus, account for 95% of cases of symptomatic coronary artery disease in people below 30 years of life. The vast majority of patients were males (92%). 64% of patients with symptomatic coronary artery disease in this age group were smokers and 88% had high blood cholesterol,” said Dr S Harikrishnan, professor of cardiology, SCTIMST.
The seriousness of the issue is that among those (below 30) who have been identified with cardiac problems, 48% of them are dying in the next 20 years. The main reason is that they are either not taking medicines or having periodic reviews or continue to have the risk factors since they restart smoking and drinking, said Dr Arun Gopalakrishnan, assistant professor, cardiology, SCTIMST.
It found that 41% of patients were non-compliant to medications. Absence of symptoms was the most common cited reason for discontinuation of medicines. While nearly half of the medically-managed patients had discontinued medicines, non-adherence was less than one-third in those who underwent angioplasty.
Dr Hariskrishnan said a 10-year mortality of 30% and 48% at 20-year follow-up is a serious cause of concern in patients below 30 years of life.
The study was conducted on patients who took treatment at the institute from January 1978 and December 2017. The study group comprised 159 patients. The youngest patient was a 10-year-old and the youngest who underwent bypass was a 15-year-old.