Heart Attacks Striking More Young Adults
HealthDay Reporter
THURSDAY, March 7, 2019 — Although Americans are suffering fewer heart attacks, the rate is dramatically increasing among those under 40.
In fact, 20 percent of people who have a heart attack are 40 or younger, a rate that has risen 2 percent a year for 10 years, new research reports.
Some of these people are now in their 20s and early 30s, said senior study author Dr. Ron Blankstein, a cardiologist at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston. He said it used to be “incredibly rare” to see anyone under age 40 with a heart attack.
“Based on what we are seeing, it seems that we are moving in the wrong direction,” he said.
These young heart attack victims also have the same risks of dying from another heart attack or stroke as older patients.
“Even if you’re in your 20s or 30s, once you’ve had a heart attack, you’re at risk for more cardiovascular events and you have just as much risk as someone who may be older than you,” Blankstein said.
Risk factors such as diabetes, high blood pressure, smoking, family history of premature heart attack and high cholesterol were the same among older and young people who suffered a heart attack, researchers found.
Younger patients drank less alcohol but were more likely to be substance abusers — 18 percent used and 9 percent used cocaine.
For the study, Blankstein and colleagues collected data on close to 2,100 patients under age 50 admitted to two hospitals for heart attacks.
The Connection Between Heart Attack And Cardiac Arrest
Truth is, heart disease is extremely common and is the leading cause of deaths worldwide. And a cardiac arrest can happen even without a family history of cardiac issues. Poor cardiovascular health, heart diseases, arrhythmia or irregular heartbeats are some of the other factors that may disrupt the working of the heart and trigger cardiac arrest. But, a heart attack is one of the many factors that lead to cardiac arrest. According to Mayo Clinic, a sudden cardiac arrest occurs when blood flow to a portion of the heart is blocked. However, a heart attack can sometimes trigger an electrical disturbance that leads to a sudden cardiac arrest.
Heart Attack Causes In Children Teenagers And Young Adults
by Dr. Sanjiv Khanse | Diseases and Conditions
Heart attacks in children, teenagers or at the young age of 20 or 30 years are not common, but they are seen. There are specific causes and risk factors that can cause a heart attack in such young individuals. Chest pain, therefore, in such individuals should never be ignored and should be investigated with an electrocardiogram or a stress test.
The major share of a heart attack in early age is associated with the same causes and risk factors as older folks.
These include factors like family history of heart disease, smoking, high blood pressure, abdominal obesity, diabetes, a lifestyle of physical inactivity, and elevated levels of C-reactive protein .
Elevated CRP levels, per say, are not responsible for a heart attack, but they indicate a high level of inflammation in the body, which is associated with atherosclerosis.
They also indicate a significant effect of the risk factors such as hypertension, smoking, family history, obesity on the body. Elevated CRP levels tell your doctor that your risk of a heart attack is significantly advanced.
Of all the risk factors mentioned here, smoking could be the most common cause contributing to a heart attack in the young age. Smoking also promotes the formation of blood clots, which clog the arteries and block blood supply. Other causes are explained below.
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Healthy People Can Have Heart Attacks Too
While most heart attacks do affect people with usual risk factors such as a sedentary lifestyle, diabetes and obesity, experts warn that even those who lead a virtuous life can suffer from one as well. The claims for fit people can have heart attacks too have been gaining credence in recent years, and Sridevis death points to one of such many instances. Also, the New York Times had earlier reported about Bob Harper, a celebrity fitness trainer, who suffered a heart attack and went into a cardiac arrest last February. Known for whipping contestants into shape on hit TV show ‘The Biggest Loser’, Mr Harper was found to have high levels of lp in his blood. The report added that only a few doctors ask their patients to check for levels of lipoprotein or lp, a type of cholesterol linked to an increased risk of heart attack and stroke. Read – Lipoprotein: A little-known but deadly risk factor for heart attack, stroke
Lesson Learn From The Past
There is compelling evidence for an association between influenza epidemics and major adverse cardiovascular events like Myocardial infarction , stroke, and SCD. These all may be prevented by influenza vaccination., Influenza epidemics is also associated with higher risk of out-of-hospital cardiac arrest .
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Clinical Contributors To This Story
Saleem Husain, M.D. contributes to topics such as Cardiac / Heart Health.
When 34-year-old Przemyslaw Simon Blazejowicz suffered a heart attack in February 2019, doctors at JFK Medical Center were initially puzzled why such a young manwho also worked out six days a weekwould fall among the tiny percentage of Americans under age 40 stricken by heart attacks each year.
It turns out that Simons strong family history of heart disease, including an often-genetic condition that makes blood clot more rapidly, placed him in the top two risk factors for an early heart attack. The other leading risk factor for heart attacks in people under 40 is substance abuse, especially cocaine, says Saleem Husain, M.D., director of the Cardiac Catheterization Lab and Chest Pain Center at JFK, who successfully treated Simon.
Cannabis Use Doubles Heart Attack Risk Among Young Adults
TORONTO, Ontario Adults under the age of 45 may be doubling their risk of suffering a heart attack if they use cannabis, a new study reveals. Researchers in Canada have discovered that, even after accounting for other habits like drinking, smoking, and vaping, cannabis users see a noticeable uptick in heart attack cases compared to non-users.
The findings add to previous reports that show heavy cannabis use has a link to heart attack risk among hospital patients. The new report finds younger adults who used within the last 30 days saw their chances of myocardial infarction go up two-fold.
The team examined a survey by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that included over 33,000 adults between 18 and 44 years-old. Of those participants, 17 percent reported using cannabis during the past month. Overall, 1.3 percent of cannabis users had a heart attack, compared to just 0.8 percent of non-users.
Although cannabis users were more likely to also smoke cigarettes, vape, and drink more heavily, the team says they accounted for these factors and others which also influence a persons risk of suffering a heart attack.
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Primordial Prevention: How Early Is Early Enough
Heart experts always thought about primary and secondary prevention when it comes to heart attacks, Dr. Laffin says. Thats trying to prevent the first heart attack and then trying to prevent the second heart attack.
But recently, theres been a shift to the idea of primordial prevention. This means trying to prevent the progression of the heart attack risk factors themselves. Dr. Laffin says it includes trying to change the social and environmental conditions that could develop and progress risk factors. These are things we have control over such as exercising, eating nutritious foods, not smoking, managing stress and blood pressure.
Primordial prevention also includes education about whatbehaviors put you at risk for cardiovascular disease. These include:
- Obesity
- Poor diet and lack of exercise.
- Type 2 diabetes.
- Family history of cardiovascular disease.
Heart Attacks In Young Adults Are Related To Unhealthy Lifestyles Not Just Family History
Sophia Antipolis, France 24 Aug 2021: Young heart attack victims are more likely to be smokers, obese, and have high blood pressure or diabetes compared to their peers, according to research presented at ESC Congress 2021.1 The study shows that while parental history of a premature heart attack is linked with heart events at a young age, it is not the only contributing factor.
The findings underline the importance of preventing smoking and overweight in children and adolescents in order to reduce the likelihood of heart disease later in life, said study author Professor Harm Wienbergen of the Bremen Institute for Heart and Circulation Research, Germany.
Understanding the reasons for heart attacks in young adults is important from a societal perspective due to their employment and family responsibilities, he continued. However, there are limited data on the predictors of heart events in this group.
The case-control study compared the clinical characteristics of consecutive patients admitted to hospital with acute myocardial infarction at 45 years of age or younger with randomly selected individuals from the general population in the same geographic region in Germany. Cases and controls were matched according to age and gender.
A total of 522 patients were enrolled from the Bremen STEMI registry and 1,191 matched controls were identified from the German National Cohort .
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What Causes Heart Disease In Young Adults
In older men, nearly all heart attacks are caused by atherosclerotic blockages in coronary arteries. Conventional coronary artery disease also predominates in young adults, accounting for about 80% of heart attacks. About 60% of these young patients have disease of just one coronary artery, while older patients are more likely to have disease in two or three arteries.
Because CAD is the most important cause of early heart attacks, it deserves the most attention. But the other causes should also be considered. In broad numbers, about 4% of heart attacks in young adults are triggered by inborn abnormalities of the coronary artery anatomy. Five percent can be attributed to blood clots that originate elsewhere and are carried in the bloodstream to otherwise normal coronary arteries, where they block the artery. And in another 5%, various disorders of the blood clotting system increase the risk of clot formation throughout the circulatory system, including in coronary arteries.
A wide range of problems account for the remaining 6% of heart attacks in young adults. They include spasm or inflammation of the coronary arteries, radiation therapy for chest tumors, chest trauma, and abuse of cocaine, amphetamines, or other drugs.
Each of these problems is tragic in its own right. But because it’s both common and preventable, atherosclerosis is the greatest tragedy of all.
Heart Attack Symptoms In Women
Although many people think heart attacks happen mostly to men, heartdisease is the leading cause of death for both men and women. So it’s justas important for women of every age torecognize heart attack signsand seek immediate medical attention.
For the vast majority of people men and women chest pain or discomfortis the primary symptom of a heart attack. However, women are more likelythan men are to have less recognizable heart attack symptoms, such as:
- Pain or discomfort in different parts of the upper body
- Shortness of breath
- Nausea and vomiting
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Causing Heart Attacks Differently
Typical heart attacks are caused by plaque and a blood clot that blocks a heart artery. But SCAD starts with a tear or bleed in the wall of a heart artery that blocks blood flow to the heart, causing a heart attack.
SCAD patients are generally healthy. They have no or few risk factors like smoking, being overweight or having diabetes. So even if they seek treatment for classic heart attack symptoms, theyre often misdiagnosed with problems like anxiety or indigestion. Misdiagnosis can lead to treatment that may cause more damage.
Symptoms of SCAD include:
- Pain in the shoulders, arms, back, neck or jaw
- Nausea, lightheadedness and sweating
Cdc Investigates Rare Heart Problem In A Few Young Vaccine Recipients
The vast majority of the cases were sent home following a visit to a hospital as of the end of May. It’s unclear how many patients were admitted to the hospital, or, for example, were discharged following a visit to the emergency room. Fifteen patients remain hospitalized, with three in intensive care units. Two of the patients in the ICU had other health problems.
The CDC had information on the recovery of patients in 220 cases in more than 80 percent of these cases, patients got better on their own.
Following the presentation, Dr. Cody Meissner, chief of pediatric infectious diseases at the Tufts Children’s Hospital in Boston, said “it is hard to deny that there’s some event that seems to be occurring in terms of myocarditis.”
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Putting The Risk In Context
Heart disease is the leading cause of death among American Indian or Alaskan Native people living in the United States, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention . The study results suggest that subclinical atherosclerosis may play a bigger role in this risk than previously thought, Reese says.
The proportion of young American Indians who experienced cardiovascular disease events during the study 8.7 percent is much higher than the prevalence for young people in the U.S. population as a whole, Reese notes. One study published in June 2019 in Circulation, for example, put the prevalence of these events among U.S. adults 20 to 39 years old at 1.1 percent for men and 1.4 percent for women.
Historically, American Indians under age 65 have also been more likely to die prematurely from events like heart attacks and strokes than people from other racial and ethnic groups, Reese says. One report from the CDC dating back to 2004, for example, put premature mortality rates from cardiovascular disease events at 36 percent among American Indians, compared with 32 percent for Black Americans and 15 percent for white Americans.
Earlier detection of cardiovascular risk factors, and earlier intervention, will be necessary to help turn these trends around, Godfrey says.
Heart Attacks Are Becoming More Common In Younger People Especially Women
Heart attacks once characterized as a part of “old man’s disease” are increasingly occurring in younger people, especially women, according to new research.
The study presented Sunday at the American Heart Association’s Scientific Sessions meeting in Chicago and published in the AHA journal Circulation, sought to investigate heart attacks in the young, a group frequently overlooked in cardiovascular research.
Past research has shown heart attack rates in the U.S. have declined in recent decades among 35- to 74-year-olds. But for the new study, researchers wanted to look specifically at how many younger people were having heart attacks.
They included data from a multi-state study of more than 28,000 people hospitalized for heart attacks from 1995 to 2014. The results showed 30 percent of those patients were young, age 35 to 54.
More importantly, they found the people having heart attacks were increasingly young, from 27 percent at the start of the study to 32 percent at the end.
“Cardiac disease is sometimes considered an old man’s disease, but the trajectory of heart attacks among young people is going the wrong way. It’s actually going up for young women,” said Dr. Sameer Arora, the study’s lead author. “This is concerning. It tells us we need to focus more attention on this population.”
Piña and Arora both said they would like to see women better represented in future studies on heart disease.
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While Most Heart Attacks Do Affect People With Usual Risk Factors Such As A Sedentary Lifestyle Diabetes And Obesity Experts Warn That Even Those Who Lead A Virtuous Life Can Suffer From One As Well
New Delhi: The untimely demise of Bollywood legendary actor Sridevi on Saturday night in Dubai following a sudden cardiac arrest has not only shocked the entire nation but also raised serious health concerns. The iconic actor, who was also a dancer all her life, was fit and healthy. She frequently posted pictures of her workouts. She exuded elegance in her appearances – her photos and videos of the function that were now being shared on social media as her last were the proof. Also, as per her friends accounts, the diva, who redefined grace and beauty in Hindi cinema, led a healthy lifestyle. Her brother-in-law Sanjay Kapoor also confirmed that the actress had no past history of heart problems.
Although we dont really know what the cause of her death was, the doctors in the UAE said she had suffered a cardiac arrest. Sridevi was in Dubai, along with husband Boney Kapoor and younger daughter Khushi, to attend the marriage function of Boney Kapoor’s nephew Mohit Marwah. The medical team had failed to revive her after the actor had collapsed in her hotel room in Dubai on Saturday evening. She was declared dead when she was taken to the hospital. Read: Actor Sridevi dies of cardiac arrest in Dubai here’s all you need to know about this fatal malady
Heart Disease In The United States
- Heart disease is the leading cause of death for men, women, and people of most racial and ethnic groups in the United States.1
- One person dies every 36 seconds in the United States from cardiovascular disease.1
- About 655,000 Americans die from heart disease each yearthats 1 in every 4 deaths.2
- Heart disease costs the United States about $219 billion each year from 2014 to 2015.3 This includes the cost of health care services, medicines, and lost productivity due to death.
Coronary Artery Disease
- Coronary heart disease is the most common type of heart disease, killing 365,914 people in 2017.4
- About 18.2 million adults age 20 and older have CAD .3
- About 2 in 10 deaths from CAD happen in adults less than 65 years old.4
Early Action Is Important for Heart Attack
- In the United States, someone has a heart attack every 40 seconds.3
- Every year, about 805,000 Americans have a heart attack.3 Of these,
- 605,000 are a first heart attack3
- 200,000 happen to people who have already had a heart attack3
- About 1 in 5 heart attacks is silentthe damage is done, but the person is not aware of it.3
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