Cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) are a group of disorders of the heart and blood vessels, including coronary heart disease, cerebrovascular disease, peripheral arterial disease, rheumatic heart disease, congenital heart disease, deep vein thrombosis and pulmonary embolism. Apart from obesity and elevated blood pressure, abnormal lipids is a risk factor for developing cardiovascular diseases.

Burden of Cardiovascular Disease in India: India has one of the highest burdens of cardiovascular disease (CVD) worldwide. The annual number of deaths from CVD in India has risen from 2.26 million (1990) to 4.77 million (2020) (1).  Coronary heart disease prevalence rates in India have been estimated over the past several decades and have ranged from 1.6% to 7.4% in rural populations and from 1% to 13.2% in urban populations. (2)

Ahead of the World Heart Day, SRL Diagnostics, India’s leading chain of diagnostic laboratories conducted a retrospective data study on close to 3, 00,000 samples tested in Bengaluru for lipid profile in the last five year period.

Some of the findings from the data study as below:

• 19% of the samples tested for Total Cholesterol tested borderline high and over 7% samples tested high
• HDL Cholesterol which is considered ‘good cholesterol’ was found to be sub-optimal in over 48% of samples
• 18% of the samples tested for Triglycerides tested borderline high and over 18% samples tested high
• LDL Cholesterol was optimal in 38% of the samples, above optimal in 30%, borderline high in 21% and much higher in 11% of the samples.
• 31% of the samples had abnormal levels of VLDL Cholesterol

Commenting on the study, Dr. Chaitra Krishnagiri, Technical Lead, South & Chief of Laboratory, SRL Diagnostics, Bengaluru said “Individuals at risk of CVD may demonstrate raised blood pressure, glucose, and lipids as well as overweight and obesity. Identifying those at highest risk of CVDs and ensuring they receive appropriate treatment can prevent premature deaths. In the last few years, we have seen that people are more aware and are taking preventive measures; especially those who are in their most productive age-group. We hope that this trend of screening continues and we gradually see lipid profiles improving in at-risk individuals.”

Adding his comment, Mr. Anand.K, Chief Executive Officer, SRL Diagnostics said, ““CVD is now a leading cause of mortality and in the coming years, CVDs will continue to pose a significant economic and social burden in India. While India had drafted a National List of Essential Diagnostics that included many CVD-related diagnostics, we are yet to see a large scale screening for CVD. Early diagnosis and lifestyle management is crucial and can help people manage their health optimally. We have also launched the high sensitivity troponin I test as a predictive test to stratify risk and predict future cardiovascular