Men are more prone to heart disease
10 September 2019
Heart disease is often associated with smoking, diet and lifestyle – and it is well known that cigarettes are a major cause of heart disease, but do we know that vape or electronic cigarettes invite worse harm than cigarettes?
Sunway Medical Centre Consultant Cardiothoracic Surgeon, Dr Hardip Singh said a recent study conducted by an association in Australia found that vape affects the heart 10 times more than cigarettes and the major contributor to this is the chemicals found in electronic cigarette flavours.
“If the effect of cigarettes is due to its main content, nicotine, the chemicals in vape causes far worse effects,” he added.
Besides smoking and vape, genetic factors also contribute to heart disease. However, this factor only concerns men as the probability of men developing heart disease due to genetic factors is as much as 50%.
Women are spared from developing heart disease due to genetic factors because they have the hormone estrogen which protects them from it.
“Once women are menopausal, they will no longer are at risk of heart disease due to genetics,” Dr Hardip said.
Heart disease is a 'silent killer' because the individual may not realise that he or she has developed a critical vascular disease. Therefore, Dr Hardip advises the public to undergo early examination to identify their level of heart health.
Early examination can avoid cases of death due to heart disease, and if individuals undergo early examination the percentage of death due to heart disease is only 2%.
Sunway Medical Centre Consultant Vascular Surgeon, Dr Naresh Govindarajanthran agrees and is of the view that delaying health examinations invites more serious problems to the heart.
He said a delay in identifying heart disease causes the sufferer to fail to be saved, and can even lead to death. In prolonging one’s life, proper medical treatment, health care and adopting a healthy lifestyle are important elements. A healthy lifestyle should be adopted, especially quitting smoking completely, besides prescribing medicine to patients who are in serious condition.
“Exercise is important to keep the heart in good condition and to keep individuals’ performing their tasks well. If you are not able to jog because of weight problems or if you experience knee pains, cycling and walking can be adopted,” Dr Naresh said.
He added that narrow blood vessels due to cholesterol causes insufficient blood supply to the vital organs in the body which in turn causes the heart to work harder. Additionally, clogged and narrowed blood vessels in the legs, and any injuries that cause germs to easily enter the bloodstream can cause the patient to face serious problems or may cause some limbs to be amputated.
Kidney problems are also a threat to society with a large number of people suffering from it. As many as 40,000 people are currently undergoing dialysis treatment while around 6,000 to 7,000 new patients receive dialysis treatment every year.
Source: Utusan Malaysia
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