By Dr S. P. Pradhan on 10th January, 2024
Lifestyle diseases like heart attack are bigger burden to the society than infectious diseases. The rising incidences of heart attack especially in younger population reflects our faulty lifestyle.
Gone those days when heart attack was seen in people above sixty years. Now a days the younger population below 40 years are affected. It is called young age heart attack. The rising incidence in below 40 years or even lower is on upward trend due to faulty lifestyle and diet.
Mechanism of Heart Attack
Heart is the main pumping organ providing blood supply to different organs. But its own muscles get supplied by coronary arteries. When the coronary arteries get blocked due to atherosclerotic plaques the blood supply to heart muscle is hampered. Sometimes the plaques rupture leading to clot formation. Both these mechanism leading severe compromise in blood and oxygen supply to heart muscles.It manifest as heart attack.
Risk factors of Heart Attack
- High cholesterol
- Diabetes
- Hypertension or high blood pressure
- Smoking
- Alcohol
- Physical Inactivity or sedentery lifestyle
- Coagulative disorders
- Faulty dietary habits like taking excessive fast foods, deep fried foods, ultra processed foods.
Symptoms of Heart Attack
The chest overlying the heart is known as precordium. There is sharp stabbing, pressing type of pain which can radiate to left arm, hand, shoulder, left side of neck and back. Other symptoms are fatigue, cold perspiration, nausea, dizziness. When we see such type of symptoms then think about heart attack.
Emergency response to such a situation
When we ourselves face such a situation or see anybody with such symptoms then our first job is to call the emergency helpline number like 911 in USA and 108 in India for example. The life saving medicines should be available to save a life.
First is nitroglycerine or glyceryl mononitrate or dinitrate. It is given as sublingual tablet. The absorption of sublingual tablet is very fast. Other drug given is aspirin which is an anticoagulant.
If the patient falls unconscious, then immediately we have to do cardiopulmonary resuscitation. This is a life saving procedure which can revive a patient till the life saving ambulance reaches the destination.
