It is wake up time for the Indians, as an international agency working in the field of heart, 'Interheart', has put India on alert on high risk for heart attack, thanks to the changing lifestyles in the country.

A study conducted by US-based agency Interheart (International Heart Study) says that Indians have become more prone to heart attacks in recent times, blame it on the changing lifestyles and unhealthy food habits of the people especially the youth. This major global heart attack analysis was conducted in 52 countries including India.

The survey involving around 30,000 persons pointed out that Indians and other south Asians have heart attacks at a much younger age compared to other ethnic groups because of high risk factors for cardiovascular diseases.

For the survey, the analysis of patients was categorized as a study called 'Risk Factors for Early Myocardial Infraction in South Asians Compared with the Individuals in Other Countries'. The study involved 1,732 persons who had suffered heart attacks and 2,204 managed cases from 15 medical centres including the St John's Medical College, Bangalore, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi and the Government Medical College, Nagpur. Around 10,700 heart attack cases and 12,500 cases that managed to survive the attack from other countries were among the cases in the study.

The survey was conducted across five South Asian countries of India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal and Sri Lanka. It revealed that deaths from heart attacks among people in these countries occurred at least five to 10 years earlier than among people in other countries, including European and west Asian countries and the US. The result of the study was published in the Journal of American Medical Association (JAMA) last month.

The research is a part of a larger international study, said Dr. Prem Pais, dean, clinical trials division, St John's Medical College Hospital, Bangalore and one of the investigators in the study.

According to Dr Pais, the findings of the study have revealed that there is lack of awareness among the people about the risk factors of heart diseases and about the need to take precautions to prevent them. There is need to educate people on the preventive steps for heart attacks and such an awareness drive should begin from the adolescent and school going children.

In the study, the risk factors for heart diseases included smoking, high cholesterol levels, hyper tension and diabetes which is seen among people in all countries but among South Asians harmful factors such as cholesterol and history of diabetes were more common.

The study dispelled the myth that the heart attack was a rich man's disease as at least 60 percent of the Indians participated in the study were from the lower and middle income groups. The average age for the first heart attack among Indians and South Asian countries is 53 years while it is 59 for those in other countries.