Factors that make children vulnerable to heart diseases

Generally, heart disease campaigns do not target children, as the perceived assumption is that they are not at risk. This stance, according to a senior medical officer, Dr Micheal Ohene Tawiah Akonor, is wrong and needs to be reviewed. He believes that a number of factors expose children to heart diseases and they should be tackled early in life to avoid future complications.

According to Dr Akonor, who is also the Director of the Tema Branch of New Crystal Health Services, a private medical facility, cardiovascular disease in children may not necessarily occur as a result of risk factors such as hypertension, high blood cholesterol or diabetes, as is the case in adults.

Rather, he said, failure to properly manage medical conditions like tonsillitis and acute conditions of the kidney in children could result in auto immune reactions in the body which can then lead to heart problems.

Also, the risk for cardiovascular disease, he said, could begin before birth during foetal development, and increase further during childhood with exposure to unhealthy diets, lack of exercise and smoking.

He explained that additionally, modern society could expose children to risk factors such as diets with too few calories, diets high in fats and sugar and activities such as computer games that discourage physical activity.

Dr Akonor revealed that the number of cases of heart diseases that he saw on a daily basis was alarming and especially because of the patients’ age bracket. He said it was young people in their twenties and as such, it raised questions about the quality of their lives when they turn 70 and above. He believes the sedentary lifestyles that people lead now are a major contributory factor.

He, therefore, stressed that it was imperative to adopt healthy eating habits that would protect the heart from childhood and through adulthood. He said the call by the World Heart Federation (WHF) for individuals and parents to reduce their own and their family’s risk of heart diseases and stroke was in the right direction.

The WHF estimates that 17.3 million people die each year from heart related issues, with 80 per cent of this number in the developing world. It says the numbers were rising and sadly, one out of every three women die of heart-related conditions. In Ghana, it is believed to be the highest cause of death in women and children.

Daily Graphic/Ghana