Around one-third of heart failure patients die in the hospital within six months of their treatment. But while these deaths can be averted if such patients are brought to the hospitals at the earliest, such a condition can be avoided if risk factors such as unhealthy lifestyle such as smoking, alcohol consumption, high blood pressure, obesity and diabetes are managed properly, said the health experts.
Basic knowledge of managing heart failure or detecting the disease at an early stage is missing, so it is difficult to manage them in the hospital.
“With the burden of heart failure snowballing in India and the high death rates associated, it is necessary to prioritise heart failure as a cardiovascular disease,” Dr Shirish Hiremath, president, Cardiological Society of India said.
As the world observes World Heart Day on September 29, India is clearly facing a heart disease epidemic. It registers between 1.3 to 4.6 million heart failure cases annually.
Dr Ambuj Roy, additional professor of cardiology, AIIMS, Delhi added, “It is important to recognise the symptoms promptly and get treated at the earliest to prevent a rapidly downhill course”.
“There is no way to reverse the damage already done. Treatment helps in containing further damage to the heart and other body organs.”
Dr Sundeep Mishra, professor of cardiology, Delhi-based AIIMS talked about new treatment options like sacubitril/valsartan (combination of two existing blood-pressure-reducing medications). “It achieved a substantial 20 percent reduction in death or repeat hospitalisation, which is a huge benefit as compared with the currently available therapies,” he added.
Cardiologist Hiremath called for 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.