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Attack at the HEART of India

Study reveals 'world's most' heart failure deaths at 23%, while China has just 7% > India came out top of The International Congestive Heart Failure study
> The study was measuring mortality in patients who had suffered a heart attack
> It was conducted in 108 centres worldwide involving 5,823 patients
> 23% of people in India who suffer a heart attack do not survive
> Doctors blamed people not following medication after they suffer a heart attack
ndia has reason to be alarmed over matters of the heart. A global study has showed that the country leads in deaths from heart failure. Twenty-three per cent Indian heart patients who were part of this study did not survive, whereas only 7 per cent of Chinese succumbed.
Southeast Asian countries showed 15 per cent mortality, while both South America and Middle East had 9 per cent fatalities.
Cases of heart failure in India is high among all the surveyed nations because people do not follow aggressive medication after they suffer a heart attack and it gets worse with time,' said Dr Ambuj Roy, professor of cardiology at the AIIMS, one of the authors who participated in the survey.
Pointing to one of the major findings of the study, Dr said: 'The data suggests more patients die from heart failure in low- and middle-income countries than in richer ones because heart treatment is expensive and people discontinue medication over time.'
Doctors also pointed to terrible hygiene and sanitation in poorer nations which lead to high incidence of infections. 'If we improve sanitation, 90 per cent of infectious diseases can be stopped,' said Dr.
Patients who were examined were aged between 18 and 59. They were undergoing treatment at academic healthcare centres, community health centres, and specialist and primary care clinics when the study was conducted. There were about 40 per cent female and 60 per cent male patients.
Of this, around 1,300 (15 per cent) were illiterate while 2,500 patients had no health insurance. Findings show that the cause of heart failure was ischemia (deficient supply of blood to body parts) in 39 per cent of cases, followed by hypertension in 17 per cent patients. Doctors said most heart patients assume that their breathing problem is lung related. 'Patients delay heart treatment thinking that they have a breathing problem as a result they suffer heart failure. Since progression of a heart disease is slow, patients starts curtailing their physical activities and exercise.
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