BENGALURU: It is not only lifestyle that is leading to diseases and health conditions. Genetics is an underlying factor, especially for heart ailments and lifestyle disorders.
Experts say they can be addressed at the right time with early genetic testing, but not many are doing it because of lack of awareness among both people and clinicians.
Many young professionals are suffering from heart ailments at an early age, besides lifestyle diseases like diabetes, hypertension, high blood pressure and cholesterol. There are also complaints of early aging, balding, greying, allergies, drug resistance, obesity and poor fertility. All these disorders are not just due to eating habits, lack of proper rest, professional, societal, family and mental stress, but also because of genetics.
“Studies have shown that genetics plays a role. It is not necessary that every person who has a family history of heart ailment or cancer will suffer the same. Controlled and good lifestyle can ensure no ailment,” said Dr Ramesh Menon, Associate Director, Genomic Medicine and Personal Genomics divisions, Bioinformatics department, MedGenome.
Experts add that genetics could have played a role among those who suffered heart attacks in Hassan recently, but the sudden uptick needs to be studied in detail.
The Indian Council for Medical Research study conducted in 2023 on Non-Communicable Diseases (NCD) showed that cardiac diseases have increased since the past 10 years. Historical data has also shown that people in the South Asian region are more prone to heart disorders due to genetic mutation of MYBPC-3.
According to studies, genetic risk of heart ailments is high among Indians compared to people in western countries, added Dr Menon.