Rise in heart attack cases in youngsters puzzles doctors

Hyderabad: An alarming rise in cases of youngsters suffering myocardial infarction (heart attack), especially in people who do not have any known comorbidities, has left cardiologists puzzled.

Individual hospitals report seeing 6-7 such cases each week, a substantial number when compared to a few years ago when a rare case would be seen once in 2-3 months.

“There is a spurt in cases of people who did not have any comorbidities having a heart attack or even cardiac arrest. We are getting these kinds of cases frequently and we are increasingly seeing youngsters who either did not have any risk factor and no previous history of illness suddenly suffering from a stroke. The incidence has tripled post Covid-19, which points to the vaccine as well,” said Dr M Raja Rao, superintendent, Gandhi Hospital, which has seen 15-16 cases of youngsters landing with myocardial infarction in the last one month alone.

While some experts list genetics, stress, irregular sleep and irregular food habits for the spurt in the cases, others point to the link between COVID-19 infection and vaccine. “Both the COVID as well as the vaccine seem to have contributed to these numbers, as a number of sudden collapses grew substantially post-pandemic across age groups and not just youngsters,” Dr Jyotsna Maddury, retired professor of cardiology, NIMS, said.

“However, sub-clinically, the effect of the virus and the vaccine on the heart is not known. Even in autopsies done on such patients have not thrown up any conclusive evidence. What is evident is that in cases of sudden collapse, heart attacks do not happen due to complete blockage of arteries. But, they happen due to rupture of a blockage, triggered by extreme stress or anxiety,” said Dr Jyotsna.

Also, a sudden increase in heart rate, tendencies in families, certain professions and certain circumstances (extreme emotional events) are understood to be contributing to these.