26-year-old Hyderabad man's death highlights rising heart risks among youth; here's what doctors advise

The recent incident involving a 26-year-old Hyderabad man who collapsed to death while playing badminton due to a heart attack has drawn attention to growing heart-related issues among the youth.

Health experts advise young people, especially those in high-pressure jobs like IT, to have healthier lifestyles form an early age and undergo regular preventive health check-ups to reduce the risk.

Sagar Bhuyar, Senior Consultant Cardiologist at Kamineni Hospitals in Hyderabad, on Sunday told PTI that the heart conditions that were once seen in individuals in their 60s are now increasingly being diagnosed in people as young as 30.


"Slow narrowing of the blood vessels has shifted to third (30s) and fourth decade (40s) from 60s. Reason is sedentary lifestyle, food habits and stress," he told PTI.

He further says that even school students face high levels of stress due to a highly competitive environment and the pressure to perform.

"If a person is relaxed , the impact of stress on the heart is less. But, if the person is stressed, the heart bears the brunt," he said.

Radha Priya, Consultant Interventional Cardiologist with Apollo Hospitals, had similar concerns and shared her thoughts with PTI.

She said that people in their late 20s and 30s are found to have significant blockages in blood vessels if not heart attacks in recent times.

"The heart issues are not any more a problem of elderly," Priya told PTI.

She said heat problems have modifiable and non-modifiable risk factors. The non-modifiable factors include age of the patient and family history of heart problems.

"But, diabetes, hypertension, smoking, alcohol intake, sedentary lifestyle, excess of junk and oily food, stress, these are modifiable risk factors. Obesity is one of the major risk factors. Each one of them are interdependent."

Some major risk factors pointed out were sedentary lifestyle, stress, and habits like smoking, which is common among employees in the IT sector.

She says that under chronic stress, the body causes inflammation which would lead to changes inside the blood vessels.

The senior doctor advised health check ups from the age of 20s, physical activities like simple walking and eating in moderation as some of the ways to prevent heart problems.

"But, now we see a lot of people binging on whatever is available. Because of the instant shopping apps, everything is at your doorstep in five minutes. You see a lot of biryani being sold around. You don't know what oil they are using. In the long term, these things are going to be a trigger," Radha Priya said.

Bhayur, quoting WHO, said prevention of heart diseases should start in childhood itself. Children in sixth or seventh standard should know that they should not eat unhealthy food.

He also talked about the importance of health education in children. "Now, children are not thinking much about the future (health issues). They have to think that they may get problems in the third (age 30) and fourth decade (age 40). Physical activity should be promoted among children. Many of them are now addicted to gadgets."

Parents and teachers should train the children on facing problems and dealing with life's situations, he said.

Bhayur further said that young working professionals, especially those working late hours or in shifts should try to have physical activity in their routine besides exposing themselves to sun and natural light to boost immunity.

Priya, however, said that incidents where seemingly healthy young individuals suddenly collapse during intense physical activity, could just be isolated incidents.

However, there could be an underlying heart condition which was not diagnosed, among other reasons, leading to incidents like sudden collapse.

She also said that being fit did not mean being healthy, adding that basic health check ups should be conducted irrespective of the body structure (even if a person is lean) to know their health status.