Despite the heart being an important organ of the body, it is unfortunate to note how many have fallen prey to cardiovascular diseases (CVD) and congenital heart conditions; the former triggered mostly due to an unhealthy lifestyle followed by obesity, smoking, alcohol consumption and a poor diet. September 29  marks the World Heart Day and hence, it is only timely to reflect more on this topic with the aim to raise awareness on how well to maintain one’s heart health.

Use Heart to Connect
“Affecting the heart and blood vessels, CVD is a leading cause of death globally, causing over 18 million deaths every year” says Council Member of the Sri Lanka College of Cardiologist and Consultant Cardiologist of the DGH Polonnaruwa , Dr. Sandamali Premaratne. “This comprises of diseases affecting the heart like heart attacks/myocardial infarctions, heart failure, heart rhythm abnormalities and diseases affecting the blood vessels as a stroke or brain attack, resulting in paralysis or various other neurological symptoms and peripheral vascular diseases, where blood  supply to the limb is restrained” Dr. Premaratne added.   

Noting that heart patients are susceptible to get more severe forms of COVID 19 infection, Dr. Premaratne added that these patients tend to get more isolated from family/health care facilities due to  fear of contracting the virus. “This year’s theme, ‘Use Heart to Connect’ is about connecting via digital resources and technology to link every heart, everywhere with empathy and compassion. No one should feel alone or left alone in this era of advanced technology and it should be used to defeat isolation and close the gaps in care” Dr. Premaratne emphasised.

Preventing CVD in a nutshell
When inquired about the preventive measures against CVD, Dr. Premaratne recommended the following:

• Quit smoking and alcohol consumption
• Healthy diet and regular exercise
• Monitor blood sugar, cholesterol and pressure levels constantly
• Control  risk factors
• Take medications regularly and in correct dosages
• Exercise extra precaution during the pandemic

The Little Hearts Project
Speaking to Health Capsule, Dr. Duminda Samarasinghe Consulatnt Paediatric Cardiologist at the Lady Ridgeway Hospital for Children, explained the way forward in addressing congenital heart conditions that have affected the lives of many young children.

“From birth, some children may have different heart conditions such as the hole in the heart, narrow valves or narrow vessels and etc. On the other hand, the presence of infections like viral and bacterial infections may cause fever, which in return might tend to make the heart weak in older children. Covid 19 is one such virus that could cause problems in the heart. However, it must be highlighted that not all patients will get complications of the heart, due to Covid. Only a small minority may become susceptible to complications of the heart resulting from Covid in which case, the function of the heart will get affected. Only few such patients were reported to us and most of them recovered well” 
Dr. Samarasinghe noted.

Explaining on the ongoing Little Hearts Project he said that most children reported with congenital heart diseases or any other heart ailment may require a surgical treatment. “Approximately there are 3,000 children reported with congenital heart conditons, although currently we can conduct only about 900 surgeries and around 600 interventions. Roughly, that’s about fifty percent of our target. That is why we started the Little Hearts Project in 2016, aiming to construct a Cardiac and Critical Care Complex for such patients. Up to now, we have nearly completed the facility structure. For World Heart’s Day 2021, what people can best do is financially contribute in whatever the amount they can, to complete this project as it would be immensely helpful for yoiung patients” Dr. Samarasinghe concluded.