New Delhi, Sept 14: Bringing some respite to people in this part of the world, a new study says that though Indians and other South Asians are more likely to have a heart failure, they are less likely to die from it, in comparison to whites. Medical science defines heart failure as gradual loss of its capacity to pump blood.

However, experts say "we should not get excited by any such outcome. Focus should be on preventing conditions and risk factors which lead to heart failure."

The research, published in the `British Medical Journal', has been carried out by scientists in Leicestershire, UK. It is based on the hospital admissions and deaths from heart failure there. The incidence of heart failure was up to four times higher in South Asian patients, it found out.

"At the point of presentation to hospital here in Leicestershire, South Asians are about eight years younger than whites but the average death rate is the same in both groups. Overall mortality was lower for South Asian patients," one of the team member Dr Iain Squire, University of Leicester Department of Medicine and therapeutics, told newspersons through e-mail.

It appears that once the diagnosis is made, the prognosis for South Asians is better. "Of course eventually everybody dies but the message is that south Asians appear to live longer with heart failure," squire said.
The study was significant for Indians as "South Asian population here is almost entirely Indian," he said.

Bureau Report