Expressing concern over the increased heart related deaths in India, healthcare experts at the Cardiology Society of India (CSI) have urged the government to declare heart failure as a public health priority.

According to a recent International Congestive Heart Failure Study, the mortality rate of patients after one year of diagnosis is as high as 23 per cent in India. Even at the clinical evaluations at the hospital level have shown a drastic increase in the number of deaths associated with heart disease.  “With growing number of heart failure related deaths, it is high time that a focused approach needs to be evolved and in fact heart failure must be declared as a public health priority,” says Dr. K. Sarat Chandra, president, CSI.

At present, there are 10 million heart failure incidents recorded in India. The recent international congestive heart failure study has also emphasised that the cardiac patients in the country are approximately 10 years younger than the patients in Europe and USA. “For this to contain, wide awareness is required and to this effect we want to create a community leave awareness programme so that the problem can be tackled easily. This can be done if the government declares it as public health priority,” said the CSI president.

The study has further revealed that the mean age of heart failure in India is 59 years. Those suffering from rheumatic heart disease, uncontrolled diabetes and hypertension are also contributors to the increasing incidence of heart failure cases in India.

The healthcare experts are of the view that there is a lack of basic awareness about the heart failure, its symptoms and its treatment options among the population in India. The major risk factors for a heart failure or coronary heart disease includes high blood pressure, heart valve disease, lung disease, diabetes, obesity, alcohol and drug abuse.  The common symptoms that are usually observed during a heart failure are shortness of breath, tiredness, swelling in the ankles, legs and abdomen, loss of appetite, sudden weight gain, rapid heartbeat, confusion or dizziness and frequent episodes of urination.