Leading cause of death one of the most preventable – Kokomo Perspective

Heart disease is one of the most preventable diseases, and yet it remains the number-one leading cause of death in the U.S.

Lifestyle changes, such as exercising regularly, eating a heart-healthy diet, and not smoking have been shown to greatly reduce a persons risk of developing cardiovascular diseases. However, Dr. Anil Ranginani, a cardiologist with Community Heart and Vascular Care in Kokomo, said many people dont take those lifestyle changes to heart.

In the scheme of your whole life, we get distracted with everything possible, and theres no instant gratification from doing these things, he said. The outcomes you see are long-term, not immediate, so I think that is a difficult thing to motivate yourself to do these regularly.

It comes down to people prioritizing their health, Ranginani said.

People have to learn to give priority to their health. That is the best investment you can make in your life, is to invest in your health because then everything else gets better and easier, he said.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, one in four Americans dies of heart disease on average. In 2019, 659,041 Americans died of heart disease, followed by cancer with 599,601 deaths. Numbers dropped significantly with the third-leading cause of death, accidents, at 173,040.

Heart disease refers to several types of heart conditions, including the most common, coronary artery disease, which can cause heart attacks. Its caused by plaque buildup in the heart that narrows arteries, limiting blood flow to the heart. Another common heart issue is irregular rhythms, which can be caused by high blood pressure, diabetes, smoking, and stress, among others.

While Ranginani said there are no real cures for either of these issues, the burned can be significantly lowered through regular exercise, maintaining a healthy weight, keeping blood pressure and cholesterol in check, altering diet, and taking medications as necessary.

Those are very, very useful and significantly reduce the incidences of heart problems, he said.

For exercise, 30 minutes five times a week is recommended. Ranginani said not everybody will be able to do that right away, and some people, due to physical limitations and age, cannot even do that. However, he encouraged people to do the most you can and compete with yourself to do better.

Walking 30 minutes a day, he said, would be enough. He said people should strive to walk at their fastest pace.

For diet, the American Heart Association (AHA) encourages a diet that includes a variety of fruits and vegetables, whole grains, low-fat dairy products, skinless poultry and fish, nuts and legumes, and non-tropical vegetable oils.

The AHA discourages nutrient-poor foods and foods with partially hydrogenated vegetable oils and recommends cutting back on foods and beverages with added sugars and limiting trans fat.

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Other risk factors for heart disease include smoking and stress. Ranginani discouraged smoking, drug usage, and encouraged people to manage their stress.

"People have to learn to give priority to their health. That is the best investment you can make in your life, is to invest in your health because then everything else gets better and easier."

Stress, I just dont think you can control the stress in your life, but you can control how you react to it. So that helps, he said.

While a lot can be done to prevent heart disease, some risk factors cant be changed, such as family history and age.

Heart scans are useful for giving people a baseline idea of their heart health. The cardiologist said heart scans are ideal for those who don't have heart problems already and want to get an idea of what their risks are. Patients receive a calcium score, which is an assessment of the severity of coronary artery disease. A score of zero means there is no calcium seen in the heart, while a higher score indicates buildup.

I would use the calcium score risk, and if its high, you want to be more aggressive with medications and all this stuff. If its low and zero, you do more preventative measures, not medications, he said.

The baseline recommendation for a heart scan is age 40, but that varies based on a persons lifestyle and risk factors, he said.

Classic symptoms for heart disease include chest pain; chest tightness; shortness of breath; pain in the neck, jaw, throat, upper abdomen or back; and pain, numbness, weakness, or coldness in the legs or arms if the blood vessels in those parts of the body are narrowed.

Symptoms in older people and women may present atypically.

The more your risk factors for heart attack are, the more sensitive you have to be to any kind of symptoms. Sometimes you have people presenting with just shortness of breath, not able to catch a breath, so I would say anything that is a significant deviation about your baseline, you should be worried about a heart problem, he said.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Ranginani said some patients, especially the elderly, have been hesitant to seek medical attention. He encouraged people not to put off seeking medical help, as with the heart, time is muscle.

We have a lot of good medical systems between the two hospitals, and we also can do the angioplasty and stents right here in Howard County at Community, he said. You dont have to be put in an ambulance and taken to Indianapolis, and thats something were trying to communicate to everybody. A lot of things can be done here.

Putting a stent in, he said, is a relatively simple procedure about 80 to 90 percent of the time. In most cases, patients are sent home the same day. The cardiologist said technology has gotten better over the years, and complex calcified blockages also can be treated locally.

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Leading cause of death one of the most preventable - Kokomo Perspective