Times of India
25 September 2010
By Rupali Mukherjee

Indians In The 30–40 Age Group Have High Cholesterol Level: Study
It’s not only the elderly who are inflicted with heart ailments, but now increasingly the younger lot—in the 30 to 40 age group, are also falling prey to it. A pan–India survey conducted on over 35,500 people by Metropolis Healthcare across various cities showed that people above 30 years have high cholesterol levels.

Though more and more people in the 30 to 40 age group are being diagnosed with heart ailments, a majority of people do not even undergo cardiac checkups or know about their risk status.

In another survey conducted on 1,000 employees of companies like GE, Hero Honda, Nestle, IFFCO and American Express by Max Healthcare to evaluate how healthy, fit and aware India Inc was, found that 63% people feel that they do not have a high probability of developing heart disease. About one–fourth of the sample had a family history of cardiac ailments.

Though about 25% of subjects were overweight, most of them did not exercise or follow a balanced diet. Most of the subjects underestimated the ill–effects of smoking. As far as blood sugar and blood pressure monitoring was concerned, about 11% did not get these tests done.

Doctors say stress, sedentary lifestyle are responsible for most heart attacks. Stress is probably one of the main factors causing high blood pressure among the younger generation; stress from work, family life etc is taking its toll.

Catching ’EM Young

• A study conducted on 1,000 employees of MNCs revealed that 1/4th of them have family history of cardiac ailments
• 25% are overweight and don’t exercise
• Doctors blame stress and sedentary lifestyle for rising cases of heart attacks