38% smokers unaware of tobacco risk to their heart

It seems that the statutory warning on every cigarette packet fails to melt the heart of its user. But now, smokers need to wake up for the cause of their own heart. The well known fact that smoking causes cardiovascular diseases has been proved scientifically. The fact has been documented in a report titled 'Cardiovascular harms from tobacco use and second-hand smoke', commissioned by the World Heart Federation and authored by the International Tobacco Control Project in collaboration with the WHO, which came out in April 2012.

The report showed that India and China, with over 40% of the world's tobacco users, account for two million of the over five million worldwide deaths caused by tobacco use. "But the level of knowledge regarding the dangers of tobacco use as well as second-hand smoke in both countries is alarmingly low," the report says. Data reveals that nearly 38% smokers in India are unaware that tobacco use causes heart attacks and one in two Indian smokers don't know that smoking causes stroke. Most of the people associate smoking to lung diseases and cancers. But, the fact is that smoking poses higher risk to the heart.

"We need to wake up to the threat of cardiovascular diseases which are having a devastating impact on health, growth and development of the country," Prof K Srinath Reddy, president elect of the World Heart Federation said that the challenge is bigger in UP where 34% adults (age group 15 and above) currently use some form of tobacco (cigarettes -2.3% and Bidi -12.4%). "Every year, tobacco kills one million people in India.

Heart disease caused by it accounts for the highest number of deaths (29%)," he informed. Cardiologists in the state affiliated to the Cardiological society of India, informed that over 4,500 lifesaving angioplasty procedures and almost 2000 lifesaving pacemaker implantations have been performed in 2011-2012 in the state of UP. The number of these procedures has increased by almost 30% over the last year. Organising secretary, Dr Rishi Sethi said that majority of these persons had a history of smoking. While informing about the upsurge and treatment of coronary artery disease, Dr Nakul Sinha, chief interventional cardiologist, Sahara Hospital, said, "In India, coronary artery diseases carry a greater propensity to strike younger people and have more disastrous consequences for the loss of work output occurring due to disability conferred by diabetes and high blood pressure, being common accompaniments which are aggravated by an unhealthy diet and sedentary lifestyle."

He was taking to reporters on the occasion of world heart day. The hospital organised a walkathon, which started from Lohia Park and ended at Sahara Shahar, to mark the occasion. Director, Sahara Hospital, Dr HP Kumar said that cardiovascular disease (CVD) is the world's leading cause of death, killing 17.3 million people every year. CVDs affect Indians almost a decade or two earlier as compared to those from developed countries. At present, CVDs account for 29% of all deaths in the country. With a four-fold increase in CVD prevalence in India in the past four decades, CVDs will be the largest cause of disability and death in India by 2020.