Heart attack deaths in people below the age of 30 have increased by 40% between 2018 and 2022, while, in general, the incidents have reported a jump of 26% during the said period, official numbers analysed by News18 show.
In its annual report ‘Accidental Deaths and Suicides in India’, the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) said that in 2022, there were 32,457 incidents of heart attacks that killed 32,410 people. In 2018, there were 25,764 cases of heart attack deaths.
In those below the age of 30, heart attack deaths have increased from 2,371 in 2018 to 3,329 in 2022. In those above the age of 30, heart attack deaths have increased from 23,392 to 29,081.
The NCRB counts heart attack deaths under the cases of sudden deaths – unexpected death that is instantaneous or occurs within minutes from any cause other than violence. Across the country, the cases of sudden deaths have jumped by 23% in the past five years from 46,003 in 2018 to 56,653 in 2022.
In 2022, sudden deaths accounted for 13.4% of the total accidental deaths. It was second after traffic accidents that accounted for 46% of the accidental deaths.
Since 2014, there has been a consistent rise in cases of sudden deaths in the country in both men and women. Further, when compared to 2012, the cases of sudden deaths have almost doubled in 2022.
Heart attack holds a significant share of sudden deaths. Since 2012, there has been a jump in heart attack deaths as well. The casualties have increased by 75% from 18,522 in 2012 to 32,410 in 2022.
Since 2012, Maharashtra reported the highest number of heart attack deaths among states. Apart from Maharashtra, Kerala was another state that reported a significant rise in the past 10 years, although it was not always at the second position in terms of heart attack deaths. Over the past few years, the two states have been accounting for almost half of the heart attack deaths reported across India.
Earlier this month, the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare informed the Lok Sabha that sudden deaths have been reported in some people after Covid-19. However, sufficient evidence was not available to confirm the cause of such deaths.
Trinamool Congress (TMC) MP Sajda Ahmed asked the Ministry if there are any reported instances of a linkage between the Covid vaccine and heart attacks within the country.
The Ministry said to ascertain the facts regarding the apprehension of rising cases of cardiac arrest after Covid-19, the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR)-National Institute of Epidemiology (NIE) conducted a study.
Titled ‘Factors associated with unexplained sudden deaths among adults aged 18-45 years in India – A multicentric matched case–control study’, it was conducted at 47 tertiary care hospitals located across 19 states/UT during May-August 2023.
“Cases were apparently healthy individuals aged 18-45 years without any known comorbidity, who suddenly (<24 hours of hospitalization or seen apparently healthy 24 hours before death) died of unexplained causes between October 1, 2021 and March 31, 2023,” the Ministry said.
Information was collected regarding data on Covid-19 vaccination/infection, post-Covid-19 conditions, family history of sudden death, smoking, recreational drug use, alcohol frequency, binge drinking and vigorous-intensity physical activity two days before death among the cases / interview among controls.
A total of 729 cases and 2,916 controls were included in the analysis. The study observed that Covid-19 vaccination did not increase the risk of unexplained sudden death among young adults in India. Past Covid-19 hospitalization, family history of sudden death and certain lifestyle behaviours increased the likelihood of unexplained sudden death.
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