LINDY ANDREWS
Stressful lives, fast food and smoking are to blame for the mounting number of Hawke's Bay young people suffering heart attacks, a Hastings cardiologist says.
Keith Dyson says heart disease is on the rise, notably among a group of people once considered low risk; men and women aged 25 to 40 years.
"Mortality from heart disease has declined over the past 20 years because modern treatments have improved outcomes.
"But a lot more people are presenting with heart disease." Surprisingly few of Mr Dyson's patients are obese. Most are of average weight, but almost all smoke.
They are part of the first generation of New Zealanders experts predict will die before their parents.
"The three really important things are diet, lack of exercise and, certainly, a lot of the people we see in the 25 to 40 bracket are heavy smokers," Mr Dyson said.
Often, the pain of a heart attack was put down to indigestion.
Symptoms included burning pain at the front of the chest, tightness or discomfort radiating up to the throat and down the arms, particularly the left arm, and on rare occasions, toothache.
"Some people do get toothache, but it's not just one tooth. All the teeth feel achey."
Almost everyone can point to a 60 or 70-year-old who has remained comparatively healthy despite smoking all his or her life.
But people of that generation also ate home cooked meat-and-three-veg meals, did more physical work and, in general, were less stressed, all of which afforded them a level of protection.
Fast food and pressure-cooker lives appeared to have tipped the balance, Mr Dyson believed.
"Young people consume vast amounts of fatty food because quick, healthy food is hard to come by.
"They also lead really busy lives. You need balance. When you come home, before you cook tea, have half an hour's exercise.
"We're now recommending 30 minutes a day, five days a week. "We kid ourselves if we do one session a week and think we're fit. And it should be aerobic activity, rather than intensive anaerobic exercise like weightlifting."
Aerobic exercise, such as walking and cycling, benefited the cardiovascular system.
"It should be just on the level where it's difficult to talk, but if you're walking, making sure you include some hills," he said.
The role of party drugs in heart disease among young people was still unclear, although some, such as cocaine, had been associated with heart attacks.
Heart risk on rise for Bay young
AdvertisementAdvertise with NZME.