Apollo, Johns Hopkins tie up for study on heart ailments

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Apollo Hospitals and the US-based Johns Hopkins Medicine International plan to undertake a joint study on cardiovascular diseases in India.

The study aims to develop an understanding of the risk factors that cause heart diseases in people below 50. It would help in formulating strategies for prevention of the disease. "The study would be conducted on 500 patients of Apollo who would be recruited over a period of two years. The patients would be followed-up for four years," said Dr Sunil Modi of Indraprastha Apollo Hospitals. Another 1,000 will also be reviewed for comparison of results , he added.

The hospital plans to raise funds to finance the study but has not finalised the budget or the sources for the same. Dr Susan Zieman of Johns Hopkins said, "Cardiovascular diseases in India is claiming a large number of lives even before people reach their fortieth birthday. Through this study, we hope to identify the specific dietary component that increase and decrease the risk of disease. In addition, our goal is to identify genes that are associated to premature disease."

In the past five decades, coronary ailment in the country among the urban population has risen from four per cent to 11 per cent and there is an upward trend in the rural population too, according to the hospital. Nearly half of the heart related deaths in India occur below 70, compared with 22 per cent in the West, according to the hospital.

Taken from Business Line

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