Heart Attacks on the Rise Among Youngsters, India Starts CPR Training Drive for 10L Volunteers from Today

A statewide effort to teach CPR has been launched by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare in response to an increase in heart attack cases across all age categories, including children.

When someone’s breathing or heartbeat stops, an emergency life-saving technique called cardiopulmonary resuscitation, or CPR, is carried out. Chest compressions and rescue breathing are used in CPR to keep the body’s essential organs supplied with blood and oxygen.

On December 6, a statewide initiative spearheaded by Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya will begin, offering CPR training to ten lakh individuals at the same time so that the skill may be used as first aid.

The National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) has released statistics that show a 12.5% increase in cardiac arrest-related mortality from 28,413 in 2021 to 32,457 in 2022. Additionally, according to NCRB statistics, there would be 56,450 unexpected deaths in 2022 compared to 50,734 in 2021.

According to a recent statement from the Gujarat state minister, 1,052 people in the state have passed away from heart attacks in the previous six months, with 80% of the deaths being between the ages of 11 and 25.

Experts claim that doing CPR on a person going into cardiac arrest may greatly increase their chances of survival. There is no shortage of CPR training, with several organizations, like the American Heart Association, providing courses to educate individuals on the proper way to do CPR.

Dr. Zeeshan Mansuri, an interventional cardiologist at Ahmedabad’s Narayana Hospital, says that the significant rise in heart attack fatalities among children, particularly those between the ages of 11 and 25, is “concerning.”

“CPR is commendable,” he said. During crises, timely and efficient CPR may greatly increase survival chances. The effect of such occurrences might be lessened by easily accessible medical facilities that are ready to address cardiac crises.

While it may be easy to blame COVID-19 alone for this increase, experts stressed that a more thorough investigation is necessary. They identified poor eating patterns, elevated stress levels, and sedentary behaviors as possible lifestyle choices.

“Consumption of processed, high-fat foods may contribute to cardiovascular issues, and modern-day conveniences often encourage a sedentary lifestyle,” Mansuri said, noting that regional considerations also affect heart health.

“Pollution and other environmental stresses brought on by urbanization can have an effect on cardiovascular systems. Targeted treatments benefit from an understanding of these regional patterns. The motto of the younger generation, “work hard, party harder,” is also quite important.

“Adequate rest and slightly less stressful schedule” was the advice given by Dr. Udgeath Dhir, director and chief of cardiothoracic and vascular surgery (CTVS) at Fortis Memorial Research Institute.

Long work hours and the mentality of putting in a lot of effort and then going out late at night are also quite important. Dhir cautioned, “Even if you are young, you should not overdo it,” bringing up the fact that physicians often don’t examine children for heart conditions that might develop into serious problems down the road.

Despite their youth, they are susceptible to cardiac problems such as blockages and arrhythmias. We should test them when they are old enough, maybe around college, particularly if there is a known family history.

Experts claimed that while the tendency of heart attacks has increased, this does not imply that young people were not previously dealing with similar problems.

“An autopsy’s findings do not now indicate that these fatalities were caused by heart attacks. Throughout the course of my fifteen years of personal experience, I have seen patients in their 20s have heart attacks, and this tendency is not unusual. But these days, social media, changing lifestyles, stress, and awareness have made it more frequent, according to Dr. Vivek Chaturvedi, chairman of the cardiac department at Amrita Hospital in Faridabad.