Heart Diseases Not Always Show Symptoms

No correlation exists between the severity of heart disease and its symptoms, according to Dr G Sengottuvelu, Interventional Cardiologist, Sri Ramachandra University.

'Very severe heart disease may have few or no readily identifiable symptoms,' he told UNI in an interview. It was important to start lifestyle changes early in life rather than after one developed a heart attack he added.

Cardiovascular disease begins in childhood and progresses silently for many decades, he warned. In many cases, Atherosclerosis (or plaque buildup) does not result in narrowing of the artery until very late in the disease process.

Heart disease gives advanced warning in the form of chest pain (angina) only one-third of the time, and most of the time it manifests as a heart attack or sudden death without warning.

'Don"t wait for the onset of chest pain to begin a heart-healthy lifestyle. Angina rather indicates that your heart disease is already far along, because arterial narrowing does not begin until atherosclerosis is advanced,' he cautioned.

Half-of-all sudden deaths occur because the people depot known about heart disease history, and two-thirds occur before the person reaches the hospital, even in major metropolitan centres, he says.

'If we wait for susceptible individuals to develop symptoms (of heart disease) before deciding to treat, the earliest symptom is often sudden death,' Dr Sengottuvelu warned.

People of Indian origin have higher incidence of heart disease and many other ethnic regions. Indians had high incidence of heart disease which was often severe, occurs early in life and sometimes difficult to manage, he said.