| By the
time you finish reading this sentence one more Indian
will have died of cardiovascular disease (CVD).
CVD is now the leading cause of death worldwide
and in developing countries like India, the relative
proportion of deaths from infectious diseases is
on the decline, whilst that from chronic illnesses
such as heart disease is on the rise. Contrary to
popular belief heart disease is no longer the dubious
distinction of the rich in India, but is prevalent
in large numbers throughout the socioeconomic strata.
|
| What is Heart
disease? |
| Heart disease occurs
when blockages build up in the arteries supplying
blood to the heart. These blockages slowly build
up over time due to risk factors. The major risk
factors for heart disease are: |
| Risk
factors, which cannot be modified: |
| Age:
Men, older than 45 years and women older than 55
years are at a higher risk. |
| Family history:
Your risk increases if a close family member (parents
and siblings) has had heart disease. |
| Risk
factors, which can be modified: |
| Blood
Pressure: High blood pressure, which is
defined as greater than 140/90 mmHg. Your ideal
blood pressure should be 120/80 or below. |
Diabetes:
You have diabetes, if your fasting blood sugar
is greater than 126 mg/dl on more than one occasion |
Cholesterol:
to keep your risk level low your total cholesterol
should be below 200 mg/dl and your HDL cholesterol
(the ‘good’ cholesterol) should be
above 40 mg/dl |
| Smoking:
Any amount of smoking or tobacco chewing is a major
risk factor for heart disease and cancer. |
| |
| Can
heart disease be prevented? |
| Yes….but to
prevent it, its necessary to understand the disease
process. Blockages start building up in the heart’s
arteries, as early as 20-30 years of age. A ‘normal’
ECG or stress test does not mean you will not have
disease in the future. To effectively halt this
progression you need to aggressively modify your
risk factors over a lifetime, and the only way to
do that is through lifestyle modification. |
 |
| |
| Know
your numbers: |
To keep
your risk for disease as low as possible its important
to ‘aggressively’ control your risk
factors. ‘Borderline’ and ‘average’
values tend to slowly but surely increase risk over
time:
| Blood pressure |
Should be kept below 120/80
mmHg |
 |
| Cholesterol |
Total cholesterol below 200 mg/dl |
| |
Triglycerides below 150 mg/dl |
| |
LDL (bad chol) below 100 mg/dl |
| |
HDL (good chol) above 40 mg/dl |
| Blood sugar |
Fasting value should be 70-110 mg/dl |
| Weight |
Body mass index below 25 kg/m2 |
| Waist |
Less than 40 inches for men and 35 for women |
|
| |
| How
can we help? |
Our
preventive cardiology service is geared to help
those who would like to:
- Prevent a first heart attack
- Prevent or delay the need for bypass surgery
or angioplasty (stent)
- Improve overall quality of life
|
| |
| Components
of the program: |
| We offer different
programs depending on the health status of the individual.
The goals of all the programs are to reduce risk
of heart disease through lifestyle modification
and risk factor reduction. We work in conjunction
with your physician to adjust your medication (if
necessary) for aggressive risk control. Our aim
is to empower you with the knowledge to be able
to control your risk over a lifetime (not only for
the duration of the program)Components of the program
include: |
 |
- Cardiac evaluation, including stress test
and lipid profile
- Exercise under telemetry supervision ( where
your ECG is monitored)
- Nutrition counseling
- Post-program evaluation (same as above)
- Yoga
- Physician consultations
|
| Corporate
wellness: |
| Research
shows that employers typically devote about 95 percent
of health benefit expenses to treating illness.
Overall these expenses could be significantly decreased
by shifting more resources to preventive care and
health promotion efforts.
We offer a variety of corporate preventive health
programs which are tailored to the needs of the
company. The services range from education lectures
to intensive on-site yearly programs.
|
Benefits
of a corporate preventive program:
- reduced absenteeism
- increased staff loyalty and retention
- increased productivity
- lower medical claims
- lower health insurance premiums
|
|
| Contact
Us: |
| Telephone
no: 91-22-6698 6665 |
E mail:
acontractor@ahirc.com |
| |
