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The importance of Heart Failure & why you must make a note of early symptoms

The coronavirus pandemic has shed light on one of the most critical aspects of our lives, i.e. our health! With the increasing number of cases, we have started prioritising our health and everything related to it. Having said this, our lifestyle has been adversely affected by the pandemic. Increased levels of stress and zero body movement put an adverse effect on our heart. While research and study on cardiac arrests and related problems are still progressing, there is one area of heart health which is silently adding to our country’s health burden. That is the underdiagnosed and misdiagnosed issue of Heart Failure.
It is estimated that around almost a crore of the Indian population is suffering from some form of heart failure. In fact, our country carries 40% of the global heart failure burden, which is only worsening with increasing instances of diabetes and hypertension. What is more worrisome is that Heart Failure patients in India are ten years younger than their western counterparts.
To build awareness around Heart Failure, the campaign, Beat Heart Failure was kickstarted by The Times of India in partnership with Novartis in 2019. The initiative has successfully reached lakhs of people and has specifically engaged 2.5 lakhs plus people to take the symptom checker – a tool that helps them understand the symptoms of Heart Failure.
With respect to this, a webinar was conducted on September 24 to talk about:
1. Heart Failure and its linkage to diabetes, hypertension and heart attacks.
2. Need to set up proper surveillance in the country to diagnose and manage heart failure effectively.
3. Need to set up a National Heart Failure registry for proper disease mapping and management.