The risk of heart attack in young people is increasing rapidly. What are the causes and how to recognize the difficulties early?
A myocardial infarction is an acute and life-threatening condition caused by a blockage (most commonly a blood clot) or tight narrowing of a coronary artery, leading to the death of some of the heart cells that are normally nourished by that artery. In practice, the blood supply to part of the heart is suddenly cut off. Classically, a heart attack affects men on average around the age of 58, and women a decade later. However, heart attacks are also increasingly common in young people - according to statistics, younger people under the age of 40 account for up to 20% of all those affected by an acute myocardial infarction. Primarily, this is a consequence of modern lifestyles; on the other hand, thanks to advances in medicine, it is possible to say that although young people did not suffer heart attacks in the past, today the fatal disease has become quite a manageable problem. Indeed, the death rate from heart attacks has fallen from 13% to 5% in the last quarter of a century. However, this does not mean that it is not a problem that can completely change a person's life.
"I think I used to play quite healthy sports, I used to be quite active, but one day on a bike trip I just had a blackout, an acute heart attack, and I fell off my bike and ended up in hospital for almost two months. I was 34 years old and nobody understood how a person like me could end up like that. The doctors did get me back on my feet, but after I was discharged I had to start taking medication and also radically restrict my exercise - the result was that I started gaining a lot of weight, at forty I weighed over 130 kilos and was unable to do anything about it. Moving around with that much live weight is just not possible, especially if you still have heart problems. In the end, it was the gastric banding that helped. But for more than ten years I carried the consequences of the heart attack with me, and I mean that literally. Unfortunately, I don't even know what exactly caused the heart attack, the doctors didn't reveal any predisposition, so I guess karma...," Petr recalls.
But in addition to heart attacks, other problems that were never common before are beginning to appear across the younger population - arteriosclerosis, damage to the arteries causing serious heart attacks, all of which are already affecting even men in their late twenties. And since this is a problem affecting the global population, experts have also looked at its causes.
First and foremost, obesity is an aggravating factor, and its prevalence is rising steeply. According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), the proportion of obese children has tripled over the last 20 years, and the risk of becoming overweight in adulthood is rising precisely because of the prevalence of overweight in childhood. According to data from the National Institute of Health, approximately 25% of women and 22% of men in the Czech Republic are obese, but a fifth of all children have weight problems. Extra pounds are, of course, a burden on the heart - not only because it is simply much more difficult to engage in any physical activity, but also because fat can build up in the arteries and interfere with and impede blood flow to the heart.
But smoking doesn't do the heart any favours either - although its popularity has been declining in recent years, especially among people aged 25-44 there are still twice as many smokers as in other age groups. What's more, according to a recent study, it takes just one cigarette a day to increase the risk of coronary heart disease by almost half. However, the situation is similar for those who have decided to get rid of conventional cigarettes and replace them with various alternatives and modern 'vaping'. E-cigarette users have a risk of heart disease approximately 40% higher than non-smokers, and the risk of stroke is even over 70%!
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However, the stress that is associated with today's hectic times cannot be ignored either. As Peter adds, at least in this respect, his heart attack at the age of 34 opened his eyes. "Although it all had a huge impact on my life on a negative scale, I have to say that today I look at it as a great lesson. So, it may not have lasted that long (laughs), but back when I could literally barely climb because of my excess weight, I came to the conclusion that nothing is worth getting bent out of shape over. I mean, I couldn't even chase myself (laughs), but today, now that I'm back to normal life, I'm not going to let anything get me down. I'm not in time? Even tomorrow's a day. Nothing is worth getting stressed about. Plus, I have that heart attack scare hanging over me, so I try to count to ten and keep a cool head in stressful situations. I tell myself that if it's not about life, it's not really about anything," he sums up.
But the truth is that, according to a survey by the American Psychological Association, people between 22 and 39 are the group most exposed to stress of all. Stress can, for example, aggravate inflammation of the coronary arteries, which can lead to blood clots. But stress is primarily caused by high blood pressure and also by poor eating habits, including binge eating and occasional extreme alcohol consumption. And as global studies suggest, stress is a problem that people face regardless of where exactly they live. To be specific, pooled data from 52 countries around the world showed that people who were exposed to sustained stress at home and at work also had double the risk of heart attack compared to those who lived a calm and relaxed life.
The big problem then, according to doctors, is that people - and especially young people - tend to ignore the risks and symptoms of heart attacks. And that's understandable to some extent - what worries a man in his seventies will leave a man in his thirties feeling quite calm, even if he is perhaps nauseous and feels pressure on his chest. It simply doesn't occur to him that it might be a heart attack. That is why everyone needs to realise that younger age does not mean that the risk of a heart attack is minimal and that, thanks to youth, everyone will recover from a heart attack. Relative youth does not guarantee that a heart attack will not happen again. So pay as much attention to your body as to non-standard conditions. And if you can, try to look after your health as if you were at least 60 years old.
