Heart patients need to exercise caution this Diwali, Tech innovation helpful in averting after effects

The festival of lights and sweets -- Diwali, has once again excited us for merry-making. However, the festive joy with highly saturated sweet delicacies consumed during this period can increase cardiac problems. And these expected conditions affecting the heart on Diwali are known to us.

But people are unable to identify a number of external or internal conditions affecting their hearts throughout the year, and later ailing their hearts. To keep our hearts healthy, we need to adopt preventive care. And, IHL has developed a tech-driven Heart Health Calculator, which serves as a preventive tool that helps in heart risk assessment using several factors, including age, BMI, BP and cholesterol levels.

Senior Cardiologist and Padma Shri Awardee at Sir Gangaram Hospital, New Delhi, Dr Mohsin Wali also said, "Heart diseases are preventable, and besides lifestyle modification and diet, we should focus on preventive screening to get updated with the condition of the heart."

Speaking on the measures of preventing heart attacks by calculating heart health scores and lifestyle modifications during IHL Wellness Matters Episode-13 on Heart Health: Preventive Measures and Strategies in association with HEAL Foundation, Dr Satyender Goel, Founder and CEO , India Health Link (IHL) said, "We need to educate the general public about heart health in India and throughout the world, and IHL has been working ceaselessly to spread awareness around preventive care, and provide a varied solution for it. We want every adult over 18 years of age to be able to track their health, including heart health, using simple parameters."

Dr Goel further said, "By providing your personal health information, you can use our free app heart health metre or heart health calculator, just by entering a simple value of your blood pressure, weight, height, and general lifestyle habits. It will tell you about your heart risk and if you may get an event later on in your life, not necessarily a heart attack."

Speaking about preventive healthcare, Dr Swadeep Srivastava Co-Founder & President, of India Health Link (IHL), said, "To fill the existing gap in preventive healthcare, India Health Link (IHL) have introduced a first-of-its-kind connected 'human-centric' Phygital (physical+digital) screening ecosystem, which includes the award-winning 'made in India' Health Pod ('hPod') - Health ATM.

Through the Health ATM, individuals can get their screening done for 20+ health vital parameters, including BP, weight, SpO2, BMI, BMC, pulse, temperature, and ECG within 5 minutes followed by an instant report, without any paramedic assistance."

Elaborating further on IHL's Heart Health Calculator Dr Goel said, "We aim to give every Indian citizen the Heart assessment tool to assess their heart risks. To this we have developed IHL's Heart Health Calculator, though it is based on the Mayo Clinic health system, it is made using the Framingham study, which is followed worldwide. We took the Framingham study, its update, and the ASCVD risk estimator, the American Heart Association's recent calculator, and combined them to get the most accurate risk calculator predictions.

"It's on an Android and Apple app, but we also have medical equipment called a Health Kiosk that measures blood pressure and other vital signs for this score. However, it is merely a calculator that displays the probability that it may happen based on your vitals, family history, and lifestyle so you may take preventive measures. I can tell you that this is the most widely used calculator, and all eminent doctors will probably agree that the Framingham study is the gold standard."

Dr Wali concurred with Dr Goel, saying, "AI has a huge function these days and if we utilise the statistics, I agree that based on this highly trustworthy Framingham studies we can predict and inform the patient that looks like you stand here, and you should take essential preventative precautions." (KB/IANS)