STATE TIMES NEWS
JAMMU: Underscoring the need for coronary disease prevention efforts to begin in youngsters, Dr. Sushil Sharma along with his team on Sunday conducted a day long awareness camp with the children of the Lawrence School at Sidhra.
Clinical and lab evaluation like ECG, blood sugar and lipid evaluation were done and free medicines were distributed as per the requirement.
During his interaction with the parents and their wards, Dr Sushil deliberated upon the most overlooked but common phenomenon known as atherosclerosis.
It is a big word for a big problem fatty deposits that can clog arteries. These build ups are called plaque. They are made of cholesterol, fatty substances, cellular waste products, calcium and fibrin. As plaque builds up, an artery wall gets thicker. This narrows the opening of the vessels and thus reducing blood flow and the supply of oxygen to cells. Atherosclerosis is a slow, progressive disease that may start in childhood. In some people, it progresses rapidly in their 30s. In others, it doesn’t become dangerous until they reach their 50s or 60s. Although atherosclerosis manifests clinically in middle and late adulthood, it is well-known that it has a long asymptomatic phase of development, which begins early in life, often during childhood.
He further maintained that exactly how atherosclerosis begins or what causes it isn’t known, but possible causes of damage are elevated levels of cholesterol and triglycerides in the blood, high blood pressure, cigarette smoking and by the presence of specific diseases, such as diabetes mellitus and Kawasaki disease. The existing evidence indicates that primary prevention of atherosclerotic disease should begin in childhood. Identification of children at risk for atherosclerosis may allow early intervention to decrease the atherosclerotic process, thereby preventing or delaying CVD.
He added that screening every child with tests to look for atherosclerosis risk factors is not feasible but it is important to screen children and adolescents who have one or more of the risks such as family history of early CVD, high cholesterol, high lipids or diabetes, overweight/ obesity, hypertension, dyslipidemia and insulin resistance. Moreover encouraging children to participate in moderate physical activity while discouraging them to shun sedentary lifestyle, balance calorie intake, avoidance of both active as well as passive smoking would go a long way in promoting cardiovascular health among adolescents and children.
Management Committee of the Lawrence School WG Cdr M.M Joshi, Shakuntla Joshi, Manish Joshi and Shivani Joshi appreciated the efforts of Dr Sushil and his team for showing special concern towards the important area of overall human well being whose foundations has been laid during the childhood.
Others who were instrumental in this endeavour include Dr Madhu Khullar, Dr Dhaneshwar Kapoor and Dr Kewal Sharma. Paramedics and volunteers who were part of the team includes Vikas Kumar, Kamal Sharma, Raghav Rajput, Gourav Heera, Bhanu Pratap Singh, Akshay Kumar, Gourav Sharma, Aman Gupta, Harvinder Singh, Rajinder Singh, Ankush Kohli, Jagdeep Singh and Rajkumar.
