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Center's Awareness Objectives

“The quintessence of Indian intelligentsia in the United States resides in San Francisco Bay area in general and Silicon Valley in particular. It is a paradox that despite their scholastic and creative excellence, they are most vulnerable for heart disease. To mitigate this adversity, it is commendable that El Camino Hospital has pioneered to organize the South Asian Heart Center.”

– Naras Bhat, M.D., F.A.C.P., Author,
How to Reverse and Prevent Heart Disease, Doctorsmessage.com



South Asians—men and women who trace their origins from India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, and Sri Lanka—experience coronary artery disease at up to four times the rate of the general world’s population.

Conventional screening and treatment do not address the high rates of premature heart attacks among South Asians.

	Many South Asians suffer heart attacks at an early age, often without prior symptoms or warning. A study among Asian Indian men showed that half of all heart attacks in this population occur under the age of 50 years, and 25 percent under the age of 40.

	Except for diabetes, traditional risk factors fail to account for South Asians suffering heart attacks at a greater rate and an earlier age. South Asians do not have a higher incidence of cigarette smoking, obesity, hypertension, or high blood pressure. Nearly half are lifelong vegetarians who exercise regularly.

Traditional risk factors do not fully explain the marked increase in the incidence of heart disease among South Asians. Over the past decade, researchers studying heart disease among South Asians have identified additional risk factors that may play a critical role in CAD among the South Asian population. These emerging risk factors include fibrinogen, insulin resistance and metabolic syndrome, low HDL, HDL2b, high triglycerides, small dense LDL, homocysteine and lipoprotein (a).

To date, few healthcare providers here and in India routinely screen South Asian men and women for these factors prior to a cardiac event.

Testing for these additional risk factors in conjunction with aggressive lifestyle changes at a younger age is an important preventive life-saving strategy.

The good news is that coronary artery disease is preventable and treatable.