STATE TIMES NEWS
JAMMU: In view of recent climate change and upcoming winter season Head Department of Cardiology GMCH Jammu Dr Sushil Sharma held a day long cardiac awareness cum health checkup camp at Panchayat Kotli Arjun Singh, Block R S Pura, Jammu with main focus on the ways to reduce the impact of winter season on cardiac ailments and decrease the morbidity and mortality.
While interacting with the people, Dr Sushil stated that seasonal variation in morbidity and mortality due to CVDs has been noted in both the northern and southern hemispheres, with higher incidence rates during the winter than in the summer.
“This variation linked with multiple risk factors, such as temperature, physical activity, air pollution, infections, and food habits. Another potentially important seasonal risk factors such as seasonal variation in the plasma level of fibrinogen, cholesterol, Hormones and vasoactive substance including vasopressin (AVP), norepinephrine (NE), epinephrine (E) and angiotensin II, aldosterone and catecholamine which tends to rise in the winter is suggested to play an important role in the seasonal change of CVDs. However, the influence of these factors on the onset and course of cardiovascular events is not well understood. Several mechanisms have been suggested to explain this association,” Dr Sushil said.
He elaborated that Most of these theories commonly point out the fact that environmental factors such as temperature and air pollutions are play an important role in the occurrence of CVDs diseases in both sexes particularly in advance age patients.
He said, “Although biological aspects are also known to contribute to the development of this disorders. This finding may have important implications; it seems that the risk of cardiovascular diseases appears to be the greatest during the winter months, particularly in elderly people. The knowledge of the role of environmental and biological factors could be used to improve prevention measures and educational strategies, especially in people with a risk of diseases. People should be informed of the increased risk of cardiovascular disease during the cold seasons, and educated about the importance of regular physical activity and dressing warmly in winter. Furthermore, people should be motivated to maintain health dietary habits including a nutrient rich in vitamin D and low fat intake.”
He added that people who are at a high risk of a heart attack in winter are those with a prior history of heart problems, who have had a heart attack previously, those with high blood pressure and high cholesterol, Smokers and heavy drinkers and those who lead a sedentary lifestyle and advised people to manage heart Attack in the Cold Weather such as Dress for the weather: If you go outside, limit the time you spend out in the cold weather, dress warmly, in several layers, cover your head and hands, and wear warm socks and shoes, Get a flu shot, avoid alcohol, don’t let yourself become overheated and maintain Hygiene, he said.
Prominent members of the area Harbhajan Singh, Joginder Singh, Sarain Singh, Antar Singh, Gurdeep Singh and Shamsher Singh appreciated the efforts of Dr Sushil and his team for conducting cardiac awareness cum health checkup camp in their area and shows their heartfelt gratitude.
Others who were part of this camp includes Dr Yashwant Sharma. Paramedics and Volunteers includes Kamal Sharma, Ranjeet Singh, Maneet Kumar, Rohit Sharma, Rohit Nayyar, Amish Jamwal, Makhan Sharma, Rahul Sharma, Raman Sharma, Shubham Sharma, Maninder Singh, Rajinder Singh, Manoj Sharma, Rajkumar, Jatin Bhasin, Vikas Kumar and Nirvair Singh Bali.