Do you know what are the causes of death In Malaysia?
There could be natural causes, accidents, illnesses, suicides, and others. However, the main cause is due to heart disease. It might not be your first thought when comes to causes of death, yet heart diseases are indeed the #1 killer in Malaysia. According to the Department of Statistics Malaysia, Ischemic heart disease continued to be the leading cause of mortality, accounting for 17.0% of the 109,155 deaths that were medically verified in 2020 (Statistics, 2021).
When we are talking about heart disease in general, the focus would be on coronary atherosclerosis/ischemic heart disease, which is one of the 4 most common cardiovascular diseases described in MOH and NHS(UK) apart from stroke/TIA, peripheral vascular disease, and aortic disease.
Heart diseases have numerous specific names and terms, which might be confusing. Therefore, we will quickly discuss the most prevalent yet necessary heart diseases in this article.
What are the common heart diseases in Malaysia?
Coronary heart disease/ischemic heart disease
It is a typical heart disease, occurring when the heart’s arteries are unable to supply enough oxygen-rich blood to the heart. Coronary heart disease is often caused by cholesterol, a waxy substance that builds up inside the lining of the coronary arteries forming plaque. This buildup can partially or totally block blood flow in the arteries of the heart, causing the patient to have chest pain, difficulty to breath, and feeling sick or dizzy. For your information, fatty deposits increase your risk of developing coronary heart disease when you have high cholesterol, high blood pressure, or diabetes.
Heart Valve Disease
The function of cardiac valves is to allow forward blood flow through the heart, preventing the backflow of blood. One or more heart valves may be damaged or have a congenital defect, which is known as valvular heart disease (VHD). Two different types of problems can result from damaged or malfunctioning valves: either they fail to open properly (a condition known as stenosis), which restricts blood flow, or they leak (a problem known as regurgitation), which allows reverse flow. So, heart valve disease will result in heart failure, blood clots, or possibly death.
Heart Failure
Heart failure, also known as congestive heart failure, is a condition that develops when your heart doesn’t pump enough blood for your body’s needs. This may occur if your heart is unable to pump enough blood or if it is too weak to do so. For instance, the blood pumped out is less than 50% of each heartbeat, which is abnormal. Heart failure can be severe when there is not enough blood to support the other organs in your body.
Heart Arrhythmia
Heart arrhythmia refers to abnormal sequences of heart electrical impulses. The impulses may happen too fast, too slowly, or erratically – causing an irregular heartbeat. The heart cannot adequately pump blood when it is not beating appropriately. As a result, the lungs, brain, and all other organs can’t function properly and may shut down or suffer harm. Fluttering heartbeat, racing heartbeat or slow heartbeat when we are at a state of peace are the symptoms of having heart arrhythmia.
Who typically gets heart disease?
Everyone is at risk of getting heart disease. That’s why we are looking into managing modifiable risk factors like smoking, alcohol, a sedentary lifestyle, poor dietary habits, and diseases such as diabetes, hypertension, and high cholesterol. The non-modifiable risk factors will be age, gender, family history, and ethnicity.
Although a greater percentage of adults and elders might get heart disease, the age group is declining to kids and young adults as well due to the unhealthy lifestyle in this hustle and bustle of the city. More workloads, more fast food, less exercise, and less sleep. These minor little aspects cause a big impact on our health unconsciously.
Hence, it’s not that only the elder would get heart disease, everyone is at risk of getting it. In addition, patients with other conditions such as high blood pressure, high blood cholesterol, or obesity need to take extra care of their hearts as they have a higher risk of getting heart disease.
Is heart disease curable?
Humans have only 1 heart, and heart tissues do not heal back to their original state in comparison to other tissues in the human body. Hence, in a case of heart attack, it will leave a weak scar and start to perform poorly, causing multiple complications such as heart failure. So, heart disease is NOT CURABLE. However, it is preventable and treatable with current medical advancements.
Importance of taking good care of your heart
One of the most important organs in our body
The heart pumps blood, oxygen, and nutrients to all the other organs in our body, it builds up the circulatory system. Our body tissues need the blood carrying oxygen sent out from the heart.
Away from Diseases
A person will have less risk of getting heart diseases when they have no condition of high cholesterol or high blood pressure. We must take care of our heart as heart disease is not curable and requires lifelong reliance on medical care. Furthermore, we might feel uncomfortable or unable to do certain intense activities after having been diagnosed with heart disease, bringing inconvenience in our daily life.
Ways to take good care of your heart
Healthy Diet
Having a healthy diet is an achievable way to have a healthy body and it is beneficial for the heart. A healthy diet consists of green, both vegetables and fruits that are nutritious. Then, consume adequate protein, more fish, and protein-rich while avoiding highly processed foods that are greasy, salty, and sugary. By doing so, we are also controlling blood cholesterol and sugar levels which are crucial for preventing heart disease.
Exercise regularly
A regular body exercise routine is undeniably good for body health as it helps in lowering blood pressure, reduces body fat, and helps in cardiac output. Being physically active is still beneficial even if you can’t exercise frequently. Take a few extra steps while getting to the parking lot, and take the stairs rather than the escalator—these small behaviours could make a difference.
Get enough sleep
A habit of having a full seven to eight hours of sleep per night is good for the heart, which is what most adults need. This normal sleeping time helps to lower blood pressure, indirectly helping to lower the risk of heart disease and stroke. On the contrary, those who suffer from severe sleep disorders like insomnia have reduced life expectancy. The reason for this is that people are more likely to get heart disease and have a higher blood pressure than when they sleep less.
Avoid smoking
Some individuals might consider smoking makes them look cool and fashionable, yet smoking is more harmful than they think. Smoking can cause a rise in heart rate, tighten arteries, leads to irregular heart rhythm, and raises blood pressure. All of them have a negative impact on heart health and raise the chance of stroke.
Visit your doctor annually
Prevention is better than cure. It is recommended to have an annual heart health checkup with your doctor to monitor your heart health and find ways of lowering the risk of heart disease. During a heart health checkup, doctors will normally recommend screening tests to identify the signs of heart disease because early detection and treatment is good.
For the sake of your loved ones, family, and friends, do take good care of your heart by checking regularly. For an ideal cardiac and vascular hospital, you can contact CVSKL which consists of experienced doctors with different expertise all in one place. We do provide essential heart screening packages other than kidney, and gastro packages.
Do check out the packages for us to serve you with consultation with a cardiologist and a wide range of health screening packages.
References
Statistics on Causes of Death, Malaysia. (2021). Department of Statistics Malaysia Official Portal.
