Daniel Balaji's death: Why sudden cardiac arrests on the rise among people below 50? Doctor explains

The sudden death of Tamil actor Daniel Balaji, who was just 48 years old, has come as a shocker to many. Regardless, the incidents of Indians below 50 suffering sudden heart attacks and losing their lives or undergoing angioplasty have increased in recent times. Actor Shreyas Talpade, another 48-year-old, had also suffered a heart attack last year. In March 2023, actress Sushmita Sen, also 48, had revealed she underwent an angioplasty after a similar episode. Earlier too, several celebs like singer KK, Kannada actors Puneeth Rajkumar and Chiranjeevi Sarja, Sidharth Shukla and others had also lost their lives due to sudden cardiac arrests. 

What is the reason for relatively healthy people experiencing sudden cardiac arrests these days?  Dr Deepak Davidson, the Chief Interventional Cardiologist at Caritas Hospital & Heart Institute in Kottayam, explains that conventional risk factors for heart diseases in a normal person are blood pressure, sugar, cholesterol, smoking and a family history of heart diseases. However, he says, the unconventional risk factors, which lead to cardiac arrest in fit people under 50  - who don't have any of the habits or health issues above - are as follows: 

1) Lack of exercise and a sedentary lifestyle. There is an eight-fold increase in heart diseases in them compared to active people. 
2) Overweight and obesity that lead to metabolic syndrome. It results in a person developing high triglycerides and insulin resistance. An obese person has twice the risk of heart attack as compared to people without risk factors.

3) Poor food habits - Consuming junk food, salty, oily and sugary food items
4) Mental stress experienced by youngsters at work and home. In the case of celebs, even when they are physically fit, they lead extremely stressful lives. Same goes for many youngsters who are in other careers too, the doctor says. 

'Physical fitness doesn't mean health'
Dr Deepak says it is important to note that physical fitness doesn't equate to health. "If one needs to be healthy, the person should also control their risk factors like a family history of heart diseases. If at all you lead a healthy lifestyle, if your parents had a history of experiencing heart issues around the age of 50, you carry a high risk of getting the disease at that age, even if you are active. Therefore, a person should check their lipid profile (A lipid profile test measures the amount of cholesterol and other fats in your blood) too to reduce risk factors."

An hour of exercise daily, without looking into the family history of the disease, handling poor cholesterol levels, eating habits or mental stress will not help much, he adds. "For example, there are patients who come to us with cholesterol levels around 220-230, saying 'My cholesterol is mildly on the higher side.' However, they need to understand that if they have a family history of heart disease, a cholesterol level above 150 is also risky," he explains.