Gone are the days when heart disease used to afflict people over 60 years and above. Today it threatens even the teens and is the leading cause of premature deaths. In Goa there are nearly 1,20,000 affected by the disease. Here are some viewpoints expressed at a lecture on prevention of heart disease at the National Institute of Oceanography. By A Special Correspondent.

GOOD OR BAD health, summed up noted Dr. Mahadev Dixit of the Belgaum-based KLE Heart Foundation, is a fallout of our well-being at various physical, mental, psychological and spiritual levels. He was delivering a lecture on “The Prevention of Heart Disease and the Maintenance of a Healthy Heart” at the NIO auditorium on August 27, a talk organized by the NIO’s Staff Club for the benefit of NIO staff and the lay public. Heart disease, in its various manifestions, is reaching an alarming proportion both in Goa and India, said Dr. Dixit, and both the statistics and changing lifestyle are a testimony to this. Dr. Dixit, who is an “idol to the heart fraternity” in India is also a trustee of the Asian Heart Foundation, quoting statistics, said that about 30 years ago the incidence of heart disease was only 10 percent in India but today heart disease is a leading cause of premature death, “Goa with a population of about 12 lakh has 1,20,000 heart patients…and last year we did 45,000 bypass surgeries in the country. Out of these 2,000 alone were done at KLE in Belgaum which many patients from Goa visit.”

The fact that at one time heart disease used to afflict people after they were 65 years old but now it afflicts even 22-year-olds and 18-year-olds should be a matter of concern to health authorities. While it is easy to rectify valve defects in children born with congenital heart problems, Dr. Dixit said, it is less easy to redress heart disease rooted in drinking and eating and lifestyle habits. In the case of congenital heart disease like “hole in the heart” there is practically little risk involved in surgery nowadays given the state-of-the-art equipment which is available, even defective valves can be replaced easily using “dumbbell shields”, but it is important to rectify heart defects while the patient is young or soon after birth itself. Even medical advice to wait for a defect to go away with time is usually erroneously given and in neglected cases there is a 99 percent incidence of death within a year or even before two weeks in cases, so do not wait if your new baby has a heart defect.

Dr. Mahadev Dixit. . . being fit is just one part of being healthy.

In the case of heart disease in adults there is ischemic heart disease which is due to the slow deterioration of blood supply to the heart, and there is atherosclerosis when there is a heart attack followed by the death of heart muscles. Artherosclerosis is a process when plague builds up in the arteries and begins to bleed. Dr. Dixit explained that in the case of heart disease in adult cases there was a wide variety of symptoms ranging from chest pain, pain in the abdomen or hands or back or neck or shoulders, vomiting, sweating…” “Many heart attacks occur at 3 and 4 a.m. in the morning so don’t think it is an attack of acidity!” Rush to the hospital immediately or call for medical help for the first hour is crucial to both survival and treatment.

It was a talk peppered with good humour and perceptive insight born out of experience with the nature of heart disease. Dr. Dixit quipped that if life is about meeting deadlines then if you don’t meet the deadlines you may die, this kind of perception is what leads to stress in life, “Life would be much simpler if we did not live by the watch!” He offered a few tips on how to overcome stress by modifying one’s drinking and eating habits and putting aside an hour or so aside daily for going for a walk, doing yoga, meditating, breathing exercises. The heart, he said, is an organ full of muscles and now doctors can take one look at a patient’s heart and tell he loves chicken meat too much “because the muscle is more fat than muscle!” Yes, it helps to be vegetarian if you want to keep heart disease at bay.

Dr. Mahadev Dixit concluded by reiterating that in the USA now heart diseases and by-bypass surgeries were declining because of the change in lifestyle which people were making, “Man is made up of seven layers…body, breath, mind, intelligence, memory, ego and spirit – unfortunately the majority of us confine ourselves to taking care of only the body!” A healthy lifestyle, he said, should incorporate regular exercise, regular breathing exercises, meditation, knowledge, service and love…if there’s no love in the heart there’s no point jogging for five km every day…” If you have to choose between being healthy or fit, choose being healthy! The heart specialist responded to various queries from the audience and to one question about chelation therapy (which is increasingly being used to treat calcification or artherosclerosis in the West and by some medical practitioners in India), he replied, “The efficacy of chelation therapy has not been proved yet to satisfaction and I’ve done by-pass operations on patients who have undergone chelation therapy in vain….”

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