Hyderabad: The sudden death of singer KK, who rendered heart-touching lyrics, was shocking. But, a more worrying fact is that there has been a spike in deaths among youths due to cardiac arrests.
Recent instances are of AP minister Mekapati Goutham Reddy, actor Puneeth Rajkumar and cricketer Shane Warne.
Health experts say such sudden deaths have increased following the Covid-19 pandemic. There is no clear evidence as to why these have happened all of a sudden.
No study has been done and no data is available, they say.
Avoid the stress. Do not ignore even minor symptoms of fatigue, heartburns or feeling of heaviness, and reach out to a physician for a check-up – was their advice.
Dr Ashish Chauhan, a specialist in Covid-19 treatment, said, “There are a lot of sub-clinical Covid-19 around, where those who are affected are testing negative. We cannot come to a conclusion, yet, that those who were infected with Covid-19 are likely to have a heart attack. When there is a rise in the levels of inflammatory markers, CRP, D-dimer, it makes one vulnerable to strokes. This was what we noticed in the recent deaths of KK, Goutham and Puneeth.”
He added, “Regular checkup of HBA1C for the diabetics, the elderly, the obese and those with hypertension, constant monitoring of their health is a must. Pro-inflammatory marks should be taken seriously.”
Dr Shivkumar, chief of cardiology at Apollo Hospitals, said, “There is an increase in cases of thrombosis (clotting of blood in the circulatory system) after the Covid-19 pandemic but we are not able to establish a link between the two. We have witnessed over 25 per cent rise in these cases.”
He added, “A reason could be stress, mental or physical.”
