Heart Attack-Keep tabs on your heart

 










Heart attack or acute myocardial infarction is one of the leading causes of death in general population


Heart attack occurs because of complete or near complete block of one of the blood vessels supplying the heart. This happens as the blood vessels in the heart are progressively blocked by deposition of fat inside its wall over time and formation of blood clot at this place suddenly.

Typically one in two men and one in three women at the age of 40 yrs have the risk of developing coronary heart disease. To make matters worse there is a growing trend of more young people affected by this dreaded disease. First and foremost is to know whether you are at risk. This can be found out by answering a few simple questions like what is your age, gender, smoking etc.

Following are risk factors for developing heart disease.

>       Smoking
>       Hypertension
>       Diabetes
>       Dyslipidemia (Raised bad cholesterol and reduced good cholesterol)
>       Abdominal obesity
>       Psycho social factors (stress, anxiety & depression)
>       Male sex
>       Family history of heart disease
>       Increasing age

To simply put, the more of the above points you say yes, the more likely you can develop heart disease.

Fortunately apart from a few things like age, gender and family history, all other risk factors can be modified effectively. So one can reduce the risk of developing heart disease by 90 per cent.

Below is the check list you have to do.

1. Stop smoking. Smoking is a definite NO as for your heart is concerned.
2. Exercise. Do brisk walking for 30-60 minutes, 4-6 times a week
3. Weight loss. If you are overweight, take steps to lose weight by diet control and regular exercise. Importantly lose weight judiciously. Don’t starve.
4. Healthy diet
5. Hypertension control. If you are hypertensive, it should be controlled adequately. Restrict salt in your diet.
6. Diabetes - If you are diabetic, strict control of blood sugar is essential. If you are non-diabetic and has risk factors to develop diabetes or over the age of 45 years check your fasting blood sugar.
7. Check your blood cholesterol. Consult your doctor if it is abnormal.
8. Avoid stress. Socialise. Be cheerful.
9. If you are at risk of developing heart disease, go for a regular check up with your doctor.

source Dr Rajan Maruthanayagam
Interventionional Cardioligist 

Hearing Loss in children

Hearing Loss :Early identification of hearing loss important

Whilst most of the newborn babies look and indeed are normal at birth, there are certain metabolic, cardiac, urological, eye and ear diseases which may not be apparent at birth.


Sometimes such disorders may not be detectable by physical checkup of baby, but may present later in life from neonatal age through infancy and childhood till adolescence, explains Dr Jai Kumar Motwani, Specialist Pediatrician, Zulekha Hospital, Sharjah.

New born screening tests include a group of blood tests where a few drops of blood from newborn’s heel are taken on a filter paper and sent to laboratory for analysis. There are roughly 48 different diseases for which metabolic screening can be done. Also most important is hearing screening in newborn and during infancy.

It is estimated that 1-2 babies out of 1,000 are born with a hearing loss in one or both ears. Early identification of mild/moderate hearing loss is of paramount importance for overall development of child specially language development which is dependent upon input signals.
Even mild hearing loss which may go unnoticed by parents and family physician/pediatrician may have greater impact on scholastic performances in future. Such children are more likely to perform below their grade level, more likely to drop out of school, fail to earn higher degrees as compared to normal peer group.

Usually this screening is done within first week of life and in case of any dubious results may be repeated in another week.

Those babies who don’t pass the screening tests are sent to audiologists for detailed evaluation and further management. However even if a baby passes the initial screening, audiological monitoring should be done every six months for three years because certain conditions may not produce immediate hearing loss.

It is important to have child checked if following conditions are present

>      Family member has hearing loss
>      Preterm baby admitted in NICU  and requiring ventilator etc, high levels of neonatal jaundice
>      Infections coming from mother when baby is in utero.
>      Certain chromosomal syndromes or some neurodegenerative disorders  identified by pediatrician at  birth or thereafter
>      Meningitis, head injury, mumps
>      Recurrent middle ear infections
>      Any delay in development noted by parent/pediatrician specially delay in speech, language, or any child responding to loud sounds only.
>      Exposure to loud noises (noise  pollution)

  There are two methods by which new born hearing screening is done — otoacoustic emissions (OAE) and automated auditory brain stem responses (AABR). Both the methods are inexpensive and easy to carry out without any inconvenience to babies.



By Dr Jai Kumar Motwani
Specialist Pediatrician.