In 2026 so far, EMRI 108 ambulances ferried 71,088 patients after cardiac emergencies—already a spike compared to the past few years. More striking, analysis of calls indicates that three out of every 10 emergencies involved a patient under or up to 40 years of age. Ahmedabad: Cardiac emergencies in Gujarat are increasingly no longer an older person’s crisis.
Dr Kamal Sharma, a city-based cardiologist, said that a major study undertaken recently at UN Mehta Institute of Cardiology and Research Centre assessing the factors that led to heart attacks (myocardial infarction or specifically STEMI) in patients up to 30 years of age threw interesting observations. “Parameters of patients under 30 years of age admitted with heart attack like use of tobacco, BMI, eating habits, sleep patterns, etc. were assessed against patients of other age groups with similar conditions. 53% of the heart attack patients had a history of consuming tobacco in some form; 51% said they had less than 30 minutes of daily physical activity; 49% said that they were regularly eating outside or had erratic timings; 47% had snoring; 31% had a family history; 28% had self-reported stress; 31% reported unaccustomed exertion activity; 24% had premature greying and balding; 14% had an alcohol history, among other indicators, according to the study. As the study also compared this age group to normal persons of the same age group and cardiac patients with a similar condition in older age groups, the cardiovascular risk factors were found to be starkly different— for example, tobacco consumption was found in 37% of older patients with heart attack, but narrowed vessels were found in 56% of the patients. Dyslipidaemia (bad cholesterol) was found in 19% of older cases compared to 9% in younger ones. Eating outside was just 5% in older patients, whereas stress was one-third at 10% compared to 28% in the 30- years- or- less age group.
Awareness due to the videos of the sudden deaths that got circulated widely a few years ago has also motivated many to pay heed to their hearts,” he said.
The results threw up some unconventional markers,” said Dr Sharma. Dr Jay Shah, a city-based cardiologist, said that over the decades, the mean age of the patients has got reduced. Conditions such as obesity, diabetes, hypertension, high cholesterol and a family history of heart disease can further increase risk,” said Dr Sumit Dheer, cardiologist with Narayana Hospital.
The study published in Journal of Clinical and Preventive Cardiology also had Amit Soni, Rujuta Parikh and Iva Patel among other authors. “Right from work-related factors such as elevated stress to environmental factors such as pollution are contributing to the increased burden of cardiovascular diseases. “We have even seen patients in their late 20s this year. Youth cannot afford to wait till mid-age to care for their heart, they will have to start now.