Bangladeshis suffer heart attacks sooner, says Cambridge study
Bangladeshis are suffering from heart attacks 10 years earlier than typical sufferers in the west, says the preliminary findings of a Cambridge study.
“The average age of Bangladeshis who suffer heart attacks is 52, with approximately forty percent of the cases involving people below the age of 50,” said Rajiv Chowdhury, principal investigator of the study.
Toxic heavy metals such as arsenic, copper and lead in fish and rice may be increasing the risk of heart attacks, the study suggests.
Along with the English university, Dhaka-based health research institution ICDDR,B and the Bangladesh National Institute of Cardiovascular Diseases are conducting the ongoing study.
Rajiv Chowdhury, senior scientist at Cambridge University, presented the findings at a seminar titled “Bangladesh at Risk of Acute Vascular Events” in ICDDR,B auditorium in the capital yesterday.
The study, which began in 2011, will continue for another couple of years. So far 4,000 cases of heart attacks have been analysed under the study.
In addition to the toxins, the generally popular cooking pattern of frying fish, use of excess oil and prolonged cooking may neutralise the protective properties of fish, he added.
Rajiv said 80 percent of the heart attack cases recorded were tobacco users. In addition to traditional causes of heart attacks, the survey has identified risk factors that are unique to the country.
For example, only four percent of the patients were obese while the rest were lean.
Eminent cardiologist National Prof Brig (retd) Abdul Malik; Prof Abdulla Al Shafi Majumder, director of NICVD, and Dr Emanuele Di Angelantonio, senior scientist at the University of Cambridge, also spoke at the event.
