Common Heart Issues in Young Adults

There are a lot of misconceptions and myths that are usually associated with heart disease. Many people may assume that children and young adults do not have anything to worry about when it comes to heart disease because they are too young to develop these issues, which is simply not true as heart health issues, and even a heart attack, can occur at any age and at any time. While many people believe that cardiovascular problems only affect middle-aged and elderly men and women, poor heart health can afflict young adults as well. People can begin to develop atherosclerosis which is commonly known as plaques in their arteries during their childhood, and this has only been seen to get aggravated with the rise of childhood obesity. Childhood obesity has rather quickly become a global epidemic where every 1 in 10 children are estimated to be overweight and obesity is seen to lead to precursors for CVD such as dyslipidemia (high cholesterol), hypertension (high blood pressure), type-2 diabetes and metabolic syndrome and if these conditions are left unchecked, premature cardiovascular disease can occur which may lead to significant health problems in young adults. Also, cardiac disease in the young can also be caused by undiagnosed or untreated congenital heart defects and abnormalities.

Here is a closer look at three of the most common heart problems that may affect young adults.

Arrhythmia: A heart arrhythmia is an irregular heartbeat which can be caused by a range of factors and are quite common among people of all ages, however, they can be far from harmless. In fact, arrhythmias are the most common cause of sudden cardiac arrest, which is the most common cause of natural death in young adults.

Heart Muscle Diseases: Heart disease, such as hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM), can cause the heart muscle to become abnormally thick which eventually hinders its ability to pump blood throughout the body. While HCM is normally not fatal, it is the leading cause of sudden cardiac death in people under the age of 30 and is seen to especially affect athletes.

Heart Defects: The causes of congenital heart defects are usually unknown. Heart defects can be caused by a viral infection affecting the mother during pregnancy, alcohol or substance abuse during pregnancy or simply due to genetic abnormalities. While there is a range of known heart defects it is seen that most of these defects commonly involve an obstruction in blood flow to the heart or an abnormal blood flow to the heart both of which are not good. More rare heart defects are seen to involve one side of the heart being underdeveloped, the presence of only one ventricle, or otherwise abnormal ventricles.

It is seen that many times these deaths occur without any warning. Indications to watch for include syncope which is unexplained fainting and if this occurs during physical activity, it could be a sign that there is a problem with the person’s heart and family history of sudden cardiac death which is the other major warning sign. If there is a family history of unexplained deaths before the age of 50, then one must be cautious. If this has occurred in your family, you should talk with your doctor about screening options. Shortness of breath or chest pain can indicate that one is at a risk of cardiac arrest. They could also indicate other health problems in young people, such as asthma.Not all the heart problems come with clear warning signs. Some heart disease-related symptoms don’t even occur in your chest, and it’s not always easy to tell what’s going on and especially in case of young people, they tend to avoid certain symptoms which should not be ignored at all as they can be a sign of heart disease and if you're not sure, get it checked by an expert as they say that prevention is always better than cure.

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Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is an umbrella term that is used for all the conditions that affect heart and blood vessel and is often perceived as a problem strictly for older people. However, it is quite pertinent to know that CVD is more common in adolescents and young adults than most people often realize as it can affect anyone at any age. The younger population is not aware of the fact that they may be at a risk of having CVD and that is why they may fail to take the appropriate actions that could eventually end up saving their lives which makes it quite important that one knows about all the details regarding heart diseases.

Thus educating parents, adolescents, and young adults about the different risk factors that may be associated with various heart diseases that are prevalent in children is he best way to help prevent death and reduce problems associated with it. If you feel that your child is at a risk of developing a heart disease you should talk to a cardiologist about what physical activity should be pursued by your child and whether they can participate in different exercise or sports depending upon their condition. For some disorders, such as hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, doctors often recommend that the patient must avoid more competitive sports and that if the patient has an ICD, he should avoid impact sports, but this does not necessarily mean that the patient needs to avoid exercise. You should talk to the cardiologist about restrictions on your child's activities. Doctors in India are highly trained and experienced and provide the best treatment that is effective and very efficient especially according to the patient's needs and requirement thus you should share every detail with them as leaving out anything might prove fatal for your child's health.