KUALA LUMPUR: Heart disease has long been perceived as a condition predominantly affecting the elderly, but an alarming number of young Malaysians are now falling victim to this ‘silent killer’.
Sunway Medical Centre, Sunway City’s (SMC) Consultant Cardiologist, Dr Richard Chan Tze Ming, said recent medical studies have shown that an increasing number of young Malaysians have been afflicted with ischemic heart disease, rather known as heart attacks, in the past decade.
He said in Malaysia, deaths due to ischemic heart disease are on the rise, with statistics showing an increase from 9,300 cases in 2010 to 20,300 cases in 2022.
“Also observed was a troubling trend of patients in their 20s and 30s coming in with heart attacks. This shift is a cause for concern and indicates that changes are urgently needed,” he told Bernama during an interview recently.
Dr Richard said several factors contribute to the rise of heart attacks among Malaysians, including sedentary lifestyle, poor dietary choices and smoking habits, on top of unavoidable predispositions such as family history and genetics.
“Our society has become more digital, leading to less physical activity. Many young people spend their days sitting in front of computers or engaged in screen-based entertainment,” he said.
He added that regular unmanaged emotional stress, such as those related to the workplace, personal relationships and financial woes, could also indirectly cause heart diseases.
“Emotional distress could indirectly lead to heart disease by causing high blood pressure and other related conditions. We are also seeing cases of ‘broken heart syndrome,’ where extreme stress leads to sudden heart failure.
“Broken heart syndrome is a condition where the heart suddenly fails to work because the areas of the heart become weak due to neurohormonal reactions. So, whenever there are extreme emotions, the hormones released could damage the heart,” he said.
According to Dr Richard, preventing heart disease requires significant lifestyle changes, and as such, Malaysians are advised to engage in regular physical activity, adopt a healthy diet and avoid smoking.
He also stressed the importance of regular health screenings, especially for those with the aforementioned risk factors or a family history of heart disease, adding that early detection and management of conditions like diabetes and high cholesterol are also crucial.
“We won’t know we have a condition until we undergo a medical check-up. That’s why I urge all Malaysians to go for early medical check-ups because that is the only time we can pick up on all these risk factors and mitigate them,” he said.
Established in 1999, SMC is the biggest private quaternary hospital to date in Malaysia, with 724 licensed beds and over 60 medical specialities, and the capacity to expand to 1,100 beds once the hospital completes its sixth block, Tower F, within its campus. The hospital is celebrating its 25th anniversary this year.
Some notable accolades conferred to SMC include being listed as one of the top 250 hospitals in the Newsweek World’s Best Hospitals 2024 rankings and recently placed among the top 75 hospitals under the Cardiac Surgery and Cardiology categories in Newsweek’s Best Specialised Hospitals Asia Pacific 2024 rankings. – BERNAMA
