Identifying heart failure

Heart ailments are the leading cause of mortality, in India, due to key challenges in cardiac care like inadequate facilities, inaccessibility, and lack of awareness. Latest statistics suggest that cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) account for more than half of the mortality of the six million deaths due to non-communicable diseases (NCDs). By 2020, the burden CVDs is projected to surpass that of any other country in the world.

In this regard, experts from the country have urged to pay more attention to the early signs and symptoms that are indicative of an underlying heart disease, to ensure early diagnosis.

Ischemic heart disease, which is characterised by reduced supply of blood to the heart is the main reason for heart failure. Amongst other CVDs, heart failure is an epidemic accounting for 46 per cent mortality due to cardiac reasons, within one-year of diagnosis.

According to experts, enough attention has not been paid to the condition and thus it has been silently and rapidly killing one-third of patients during hospital admission and one-fourth within three months of diagnosis.

Despite the name, experts clarified that ‘Heart Failure’ does not mean the heart is quitting. It means that the weakened heart muscle is not pumping blood efficiently enough to meet the oxygen and nutritional demands of an individual’s body.

Risk factors include a history of coronary artery disease (CAD), heart attack, high blood pressure, heart valve disease, cardiomyopathy, lung disease, diabetes, obesity, alcohol and drug use and family history of heart diseases.

Dr Shirish Hiremath, President, Cardiological Society of India, said, “With the burden of heart failure snowballing and the associated high death rates, it is necessary to prioritise it as a cardiovascular disease. We need all stakeholders to develop a community level approach to raise awareness about this condition, which is often used interchangeably with heart attack, or seen as an aftermath of the latter.”

Common symptoms that should raise an alarm, include shortness of breath, tiredness, swelling in the ankles, legs and abdomen, loss of appetite, sudden weight gain, rapid heartbeat, confusion or dizziness and frequent urination.

According to Dr M Srinivas Rao, Consultant, Care Hospitals, Hyderabad, “The growing disease burden particularly highlights concerns like early age of disease onset in the younger population, accelerated build-up and the associated high mortality rates. We need to develop a comprehensive approach to identify patients with heart failure at an early stage to ensure timely diagnosis and treatment for improving their quality of life.”