New Delhi: The population of Delhi is at high risk of developing cardio vascular diseases and 4 out of 10 individuals are in the danger zone, reveals a study conducted by Metropolis Healthcare – the pathologist specialist and multinational chain of diagnostic centres with presence across seven countries.

An analysis of over 92,414 Lipid profile samples between the age group of 20 & 50 years revealed

·         33.21% suffered from high Cholesterol Total level

·         43.78% have high Triglyceride level

·         57.16% have high HDL level

·         29.59% have low LDL level

In order to understand the intensity of the disease, Metropolis Healthcare conducted a comprehensive study on the population of Delhi; ahead of World Heart Day falling on September 29^th2015. The study included 92,414 samples that were collected for a period of 20 months; an alarming 40.65% of patients in the age group of 20-50 years had high Cholesterol levels.

Dr. Geeta Chopra, Chief of Lab, Metropolis Healthcare Ltd said, “The incidence and prevalence of cardiovascular disease has been steadily rising in India. The major factors attributed to this are changes in lifestyle, lack of exercise, consumption of unhealthy food, increased stress level, smoking and irrational use of tobacco. Prolonged working hours, hectic commute and growing incidence of obesity along with sedentary lifestyle is also one of the reasons for Delhi’s population to be more prone to heart ailments.”

High blood cholesterol and triglyceride – High cholesterol is a condition in which high amount of bad cholesterol is present in the blood; usually there are no signs of symptoms. People with high blood cholesterol level have higher chances of developing cardiac risk. This results in development of plaques in the arteries.

 Cholesterol Total                                                                     Triglyceride                                                                 

Age group (Yrs)	% of Cholesterol Total
20 to 30	31.66%
30 to 40	46.80%
40 to 50	46.63%

Age group (Yrs)	% of Triglyceride
20 to 30	24.37%
30 to 40	33.06%
40 to 50	36.30%

 

 

Plaques are basically a substance made of fat, cholesterol which clogs the arteries depriving heart and brain from getting good amount of oxygen leading to Atherosclerosis; this increases the chances of heart attack or stroke. The higher level of HDL (sometimes called good cholesterol) in the blood lowers the chances of developing heart disease.

HDL                                                                  LDL                                                                                         

Age group (Yrs)	% of HDL
20 to 30	23.55%
30 to 40	29.93%
40 to 50	31.87%

Age group (Yrs)	% of LDL
20 to 30	56.20%
30 to 40	59.68%
40 to 50	55.31%

 

 

 

 (Reference range:The National Cholesterol Education Program (NCEP) Adult Treatment Panel III report –  Cholesterol Total:Desirable < 200 mg/dL, Borderline high: 200-239 mg/dL, High: 240 mg/dL, Triglyceride: Normal < 150 mg/dL, Borderline high: 150-199 mg/dL, High: 200-499 mg/dL, Very high: 500 mg/dL, HDL: Major risk factor < 40 mg/dL, Negative risk factor > 60 mg/dL, LDL: Optimal: 100-129 mg/dL, Borderline high: 130-159 mg/dL, High: 160-189 mg/dL, Very high: 190)

The general perception is that heart disease is more prevalent in men, but women are equally at risk of developing cardiovascular disease. The main contributing factor is being unhealthy lifestyle, inappropriate diet and physical inactivity. Smoking and diabetes have also emerged as major factors responsible for causing cardiovascular diseases.

Metropolis Healthcare has wide network includes 130 state-of-art Laboratories across India with over 1000 collection centres, processing over 4500 varieties of tests across the country.