Early Times Report
Jammu, June 18: To raise awareness among the general population, especially children, about the increasing prevalence of childhood atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease, Dr. Sushil Sharma, Head of the Cardiology Department at GMCH Jammu, organized a day-long cardiac awareness and health check-up camp at Jammu Sanskriti School in the Ismail Kothey area of Bishnah, Jammu. The main focus of the camp was to educate the younger generation about adopting a healthy and heart-friendly lifestyle to reduce future mortality and morbidity.
During interactions with the attendees, Dr. Sushil explained that atherosclerosis is the hardening and narrowing of arteries due to the accumulation of fat and cholesterol, which increases the risk of heart disease, stroke, and cardiac arrest. Just like adults, children can be diagnosed with atherosclerosis. This condition puts children at risk of sudden cardiac arrest, high cholesterol, and stroke. Typically, the disease is not discovered until adolescence (12-17 years of age). In most children, artery changes are mild and can be reduced through a healthy lifestyle.
Dr. Sushil further elaborated that a significant current trend that may increase the future burden of coronary heart disease (CHD) is the high prevalence of childhood obesity.
Obesity often clusters multiple risk factors for CHD, which tend to persist or track into adulthood, exerting an influential effect on the cardiovascular system for several decades.
The prevalence of childhood obesity varies among countries, ethnicities, and socioeconomic statuses. In many developed and transitional countries, childhood overweight and obesity are highly prevalent and increasing significantly. Obesity is associated with various cardiovascular risk factors, including hypertension, dyslipidemia, and diabetes mellitus. Analysis of data from the Framingham Heart Study, with a 26-year follow-up period, indicated that increasing weight was independently associated with higher rates of CHD. Factors like fetal undernutrition and maternal hypercholesterolemia may also play a role in the development of future CHD.
In his concluding remarks, Dr. Sushil Sharma emphasized the need to define prevention and intervention strategies to reduce the prevalence of cardiovascular risk factors in children and young adults and thereby slow down atherogenic processes. He stressed that atherosclerosis begins in childhood, and there is an increasing prevalence of cardiovascular risk factors in children worldwide.
Early detection of arterial disease is now possible. Public health strategies targeting overweight, exercise, and smoking are expected to yield significant benefits. Initially, individualized atheroprotective strategies in childhood will focus on the highest-risk children, such as those with familial hyperlipidemia, diabetes, hypertension, and obesity. In the future, genotype and phenotype information may enable interventions in childhood that can prevent clinical vascular events in adulthood.
The Management Committee of Jammu Sanskriti School, including Harpreet Singh Anand (Chairman), Rohini Aima, Avneet Kour, Varuna Mahotra, Tarmeet Raina, Swarn Kumar, Jitender Singh, and Munmun Kohli, appreciated the efforts of Dr. Sushil and his team for organizing the cardiac awareness and health check-up camp in their school to raise awareness about cardiac diseases among children and adults.
Others who participated in the camp included Dr. Nasir Ali Choudhary. Paramedics and volunteers such as Ranjeet Singh, Kamal Sharma, Maneet Kumar, Faisal Rashid, Moosa Mushtaq, Vikas Sabharwal, Rajinder Singh, Maninder Singh, Jatin Bhasin, Sandeep Pal, Arjun Ghuman, Aman Gupta, and Vikas Kumar. |
