Welcome to Northern Heart Hospital’s blog! Today we are discussing on how cardiovascular diseases have been identified as among the leading causes of deaths in Southeast Asia.
According to a report published by the World Health Organization in September 2023, cardiovascular diseases account for close to 4 million deaths within this region every year. While most people start to accept cardiovascular diseases as ‘normal’, WHO insisted that most of them were in fact, preventable.
This where Northern Heart Hospital, the best heart hospital in Penang comes in!
“We used to think that cardiovascular diseases only affected the older generation. However, in the last decade, we have seen an increasing trend where the diseases have proven to be fatal among those under the age of 50,” said Kelen Leong Choy Fun, the Chief Executive Officer of Northern Heart Hospital, the preferred heart specialist in Penang.
Leong added, tobbaco and alcohol consumption, unhealthy dietary habits, lack of physical activities, diabetes and high-blood pressure are among the contributing factors to cardiovascular-related deaths.
Lifestyle or Life-threatening?
Governments across the region have implemented stricter rules towards the accessibility of tobacco and alcohol in their respective countries. While alcohol consumption might be lower in the pre-dominantly Muslim countries such as Malaysia, Indonesia and Brunei; tobacco addiction continue to cause approximately 8 million deaths globally compared to 3 million caused by alcohol.
Our region has in fact significantly reduced the tobacco use prevalence from 68.9% in the year 2000 to around 43.7% in the year 2022 among men and from 33.5% in the year 2000 to around 9.4% in the year 2022 among women. Still, the rates remain highest compared to other regions globally.
Having said that, please also be reminded that there is no safe level for second-hand smoke exposure. e-Cigarettes also pose the same danger as they produce chemicals including acetaldehyde, acrolein and formaldehyde. If your family or friends could not kick the habit, ask them nicely to puff outdoors.
Eat your heart out?
Unhealthy dietary habit is another major contributor to cardiovascular diseases. We have been taught that eating oily and fatty food is bad. The bad cholesterol can clog up our arteries and it forces our heart to work harder to pump blood to distribute oxygen to our body.
Often swayed by the aesthetics of food on social media? Now that is temptation that Asians have been fighting since the invention of camera phones! When your doctor says, “Eat light”, they did not mean, “Eat with light, camera and action!”. The ‘mukbang’ movement popularised by South Korean influencers certainly has taken food review to another level – an unhealthy level, considering the large quantity of food eaten in such a short span of time.
More often that not, we forget that eating healthy food in excess is equally bad. A good example is milk which is a good source of calcium, but should not be consumed more than 3 servings a day. And that includes your cheese, yoghurt and other dairy products! Moderation is key.
He ain’t heavy, he’s my ….
Post-pandemic, companies are more open to allow employees to continue working remotely where they would generally spend more time at home in a sedentary setting. A study by Stanford University found that older adults working from home are more prone to be hooked to their workstation, eating high-calorie food and processed food instead of moving around regularly due to the lack of social interaction away from the office.
Lack of ergonomic workstation can further strain their muscles and joints that cause overall lethargy and eventually, refusal to leave home for physical activities. Most Southeast Asian homes are not conducive enough for a home workout, due to lack of space, presence of family members or friends, and so on.
Such challenges push Southeast Asians, particularly among women to resort to slimming products that mask themselves as food supplements sold in retail stores and online. Some of these products contain a combination of fenfluramine and phentermine that is associated with an increased development of valvular heart disease and hypertension. While so-called detox products are mainly diuretics that reduce potassium level enough to affect one’s heartbeat.
Live high, live sweet
“Live high, live sweet” is not as inspiring as it sounds when hypertension and diabetes are part of the equation. Having one, or BOTH can greatly increase your risk for heart diseases. Hypertension increases the workload on the heart inducing damages in the myocardium. Prolonged hypertention causes left ventricular hypertrophy that will lead to both systolic and diastolic heart failure.
Meanwhile, excess sugar not metabolised by the body will stick to red blood cells and starts to build up causing damages to the vessels carrying blood to and from your heart. This will eventually starve your body from the much needed oxygen and nutrients. This lethal combination may cause a heart attack or a stroke.
“By understanding how we lead our lifestyle, we can already determine whether or not we are at risk of cardiovascular diseases. As the heart specialist, we urge the public to take the first step to get a heart screening and professional advice on the necessary changes to their healthcare regime. With proper diagnosis by our cardiologist specialists and lifestyle improvements, anybody can lead a quality and enjoyable life with their loved ones,” said Leong.
For more information on heart check-up and treatments, please call +604 217 5588 or schedule an appointment via this form.
References:
- World Health Organization
- Detox Summit, USA
- Health Hub, Singapore
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, USA
- World Health