Heart disease kills more people in Bangladesh than any other non-communicable disease, with ischaemic heart disease at the top. Professor Sohel Reza Choudhury, head of epidemiology and research at the National Heart Foundation Hospital and Research Institute, said ischaemic heart disease is the country's number one cause of death, covering both emergencies such as heart attack and the long-term narrowing of arteries.
Fat and cholesterol build up as plaque in the walls of the coronary arteries and narrow them; if a plaque suddenly ruptures and blocks an artery, a heart attack follows. When heart muscle does not get enough blood and oxygen, the condition is called ischaemia.
Heart failure does not mean the heart stops, but that it can no longer pump enough blood for the body's needs. It can follow long-standing uncontrolled high blood pressure, coronary artery disease or an earlier heart attack, and causes breathlessness when walking or climbing stairs, swollen feet or ankles and fatigue on light effort; dismissing these as signs of age is risky.
In arrhythmia the heart beats too fast, too slowly or irregularly; frequent palpitations, dizziness or fainting call for a specialist. Damage to the heart's four valves causes valvular heart disease, and holes or structural defects present from birth are congenital heart disease, which in serious cases needs surgery in childhood.
According to WHO figures for 2021, ischaemic heart disease caused about 59 deaths and stroke about 80 deaths per 100,000 people in Bangladesh. Doctors say high blood pressure, smoking and tobacco, high cholesterol, diabetes, excess weight, lack of physical activity and too much salt raise the risk.
Source: Dinajpur TV
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