An investigative report on recent cardiac deaths among younger adults at Hassan in Karnataka has said the data does not indicate “any increase in sudden cardiac deaths in the district” but underscored “the growing burden of premature cardiovascular disease”.
The report was submitted on Thursday to Health and Family Welfare Minister Dinesh Gundu Rao by Dr C N Ravindranath, Director, Sri Jayadeva Institute of Cardiovascular Sciences and Research, under whom a committee carried out the study commissioned by the government last week.
The study followed media reports that suggested cardiac deaths were rising among younger adults in Hassan.
The study analysed the 24 deaths that took place in May and June in the district. Fourteen of those dead were below 45 years and the remaining above the age. Of the 24 deaths, four were classified as non-cardiac deaths. Among the remaining 20, 10 were confirmed cardiac deaths while another 10 were classified as probable cardiac deaths “based on presentation, risk factors and symptoms”.
Of the 10 confirmed cardiac deaths, one followed bypass surgery and another angioplasty while a third one was due to heart failure. Four cases had autopsy evidence of cardiac deaths and three had electrocardiogram evidence of heart attack.
“Deaths reported were scattered, not clustered, and most were explainable by known cardiac risk profiles in more than 75 % patients,” the study observed. It highlighted that there were “significant limitations in accurately determining the cause of death in some cases”.
In many instances, the individuals were not brought to any healthcare facility prior to death, and even among those who were declared brought dead at hospitals, formal postmortem examinations were often not performed, the report said.
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“This lack of autopsy data critically hampers the ability to confirm whether these were truly cardiac-related deaths or due to alternative causes,” the study found.
For the study, data of cardiac cases of Jayadeva Institute in Bangalore, and its peripheral centres at Mysuru and Kalaburagi were also compared to show that there was no increase in the trend of cardiac deaths.
Noting the presence of sudden deaths in relatively young individuals aged 19, 21, 23, 32, 37, 38, and 43 years, the report said that it was a matter of concern and cannot be overlooked.
“While limitations in data collection and diagnostic confirmation are acknowledged, the clustering of deaths in this younger age group does raise red flags, particularly in the context of rising cardiovascular risk factors in the population,” the study said.
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Many of these individuals had identifiable risk factors such as smoking, alcohol use, obesity, hypertension, or a family history of heart disease. “However, in several cases, there was no prior diagnosis or indication of existing heart disease, and the sudden nature of death—often during sleep or immediately following mild symptoms—demands serious attention,” the report said.