Married people seem to have reduced risk of heart disease compared to the single or divorced.
According to studies corelating marital status to heart diseases in the UK, married people seem to have 14 per cent reduced risk, says Rahul Potluri, Founder of ACALM and Cardiologist with the Aston Medical School, UK.
The study comprising 25,000 people, including Indians in UK, stretched for over 13 years. The physical and mental support that the married get is one strong reason for this advantage, the study cited.
The Algorithm for Comorbidities, Associations, Length of Stay and Mortality (ACALM) has been focussing on big data analysis.
In several hospitals, data is collected routinely. Studies using the data can be analysed and used in research studies using an algorithm, Potluri told media on the sidelines of the `ACVS (Advanced Cardiovascular Solutions) India 2017' here today.
Indian scenario
The data from the UK indicates that in Indian population, there is 20 per cent greater chronic total occlusion of heart blood vessels than the locals and much younger patients are afflicted with the disease.
Among the Indians in the UK, there is 30 per cent higher chance of diabetes than the Caucasian population. “We have double the rate of incidence of heart attacks in the 40 to 60 years age group as against the Caucasian population. In the West, we see 70 year old patients coming with heart attack but in India, we are increasingly seeing 30 to 40-year-old patients which is dangerous as it afflicts in the prime age.''
At present, Indian patients are treated on the basis of data collected abroad from Caucasiun population. “With data from our own population we can administer the right therapy to the right patients,” Potluri felt.
"The current drugs from Europe and US may not work that well on patients in India as well. To get the correct medicines and dietary regimen, we need to have infrastructure to analyse the disease pattern which helps understand the problem.''
"The reasons for higher incidence in India is the rapid adoption to Western habits, in addition to the known predisposition of Indians to heart disease. In near future, we will collate the data from individual hospitals here and analyse it, which can throw up interesting findings,'' says Potluri, who is among the first in the UK to use big data in medical research.
"Currently In India it is 'Treat policy' rather than prevent policy, unlike in the Western countries. The society as a whole has to address the issues of health here through a collaborative effort. If we continue like this without corrective measures, the heart disease burden will reach uncontrollable proportion,'' he said.
Srinivas Kumar, Founder Director, FACTS Foundation and Chairman of Citizens Hospital, said diseases which hitherto didn't have treatment and diseases which needed surgery to treat, were the focus of the conference.
"Heart disease can be prevented in 80 per cent of our patients, if they follow healthy lifestyles with regular exercise, healthy diet habits, by controlling BP, cholesterol, diabetes etc.''
Susheel K Kodali, Director, Structural Heart & Valve Center, Columbia University Medical Center, said: “We have also deliberated about advanced devices being used in the West and not yet available in India for improving heart pumping for patients of heart failure and those with weak pumping of heart.''
The Columbia University Medical Center is conducting a research on pregnant women having rheumatic heart disease with narrowing valve. Reserchers will collaborate with Gandhi, Osmania and Citizen's Hospital in Hyderabad. Identifed women will be offered free treatment, two women have already been treated by clearing the valve with balloon, he said.