Heart attack risk factors are more common in South Asian countries

Reported by Susan Aldridge, PhD, medical journalist

People in South Asia have higher risk of heart attack at younger age, because they are more likely to have risk factors.
The South Asian countries of India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Nepal make up around a quarter of the world's population and account for the highest regional proportion of heart disease in the world. Deaths from heart disease in South Asian countries have been found to occur five to ten years earlier in South Asian compared to Western countries. This has led researchers to wonder why South Asians are so vulnerable to heart attack.

A team at the Government Medical College, Nagpur, India, looked at 1,732 heart attack patients and 2,204 controls from 15 medical centers in five South Asian countries. These were compared to 10,728 heart attack patients and 12,431 controls from other countries. They found that the average age for first heart attack was 53 years in South Asian countries and 58.8 years elsewhere. The prevalence of protective factors such as physical activity, moderate alcohol intake and daily intake of fruit and vegetables proved to be lower among South Asian participants.

Moreover, risk factors like diabetes, smoking, high blood pressure and depression were more common among South Asians. The findings therefore suggest that adoption of healthy lifestyles could make an important contribution to reducing the toll from heart disease in South Asian countries.

Source
Journal of the American Medical Association 17th January 2007 Volume 297 pages 286-294