Stress at work? Doctors see rise in heart diseases among young executives

Time of India

5 hours ago

Bengaluru | New Delhi: For 31-year-old techie Kumar, long hours at work carrying well into the night often led to
stress
eating, coupled with an occasional drink (or two) to 'take off the edge'.
The excesses magnified over the weekend, till one day when what he suspected was an episode of indigestion turned out to be a heart attack. Kumar, who doesn't want to reveal his full name, has now been put on a strict diet by his doctor. He has been asked to cut out all unhealthy food, stop eating out and exercise.
Kumar's is not an isolated case. Leading cardiologists are sounding the alarm bells as they see an increase in people in their 20s and 30s being hospitalised for cardiac issues.
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Stress, lack of sleep, pollution and working at odd hours have all contributed to the increase in
heart disease
among young people, said noted cardiologist Naresh Trehan.
'The numbers are worrisome; out of 34 beds in my ICU, nine are occupied by patients under 40,' said Naveen Bhamri, vice-chairman of
cardiology
at Max Super Speciality Hospital in New Delhi's Shalimar Bagh, who performed an angioplasty on a 39-year-old this week. 'A majority of my patients are in their 20s and 30s, who see long periods of inactivity due to being stuck at their desks, stressed out by the constant urban hustle and pressure to hit corporate targets.'
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Nishith Chandra, director, interventional cardiology at Fortis Escorts Heart Institute in the national capital, said he is seeing 10-20 patients in the age group of 20-30 years every month with heart-related issues.
The key drivers behind this trend are sedentary lifestyle, lack of exercise, high stress, poor sleep and mental
health
issues, Chandra said. "Undiagnosed hypertension, post-Covid heart inflammation, use of steroids and unsafe gym supplements, smoking, alcohol and recreational drug use are some other factors," he said.
Hospitals across the country are reporting increased cases of young professionals having cardiovascular diseases, sudden cardiac arrests and heart attacks.
'Not all of them have the typical triggers like diabetes, hypertension, obesity and family history. Recent data shows that one in four individuals having heart attacks are aged 40 and under,' said M Sudhakar Rao, consultant - cardiology at Manipal Hospital, Sarjapur, Bengaluru.
A 26-year-old who Rao recently treated for a clot removal and stenting of artery was sleeping only four hours daily due to work pressure and deadlines.
Tight deadlines and work pressure, constant hustle culture and impending burnout are causing Indian professionals to remain in sedentary positions for most of the day, get less sleep, and turn to unhealthy, processed foods — all of which can contribute significantly to the risk of heart attacks, say medical professionals.
India is the diabetes and hypertension capital of the world, and people are genetically more predisposed to getting heart diseases, often earlier than their counterparts in the West, said Mukesh Goel, senior consultant - cardiothoracic and heart and lung transplant surgery at Delhi's Indraprastha Apollo Hospitals. 'There's a difference of 10-15 years with the West.'
Telehealth consultation data from Plum shows two-thirds of cardiac consultations come from the 25-40 age group, showing a premature cardiovascular ageing in India's prime working demographic.
'We've observed that 71% of Indian working professionals are at moderate risk of chronic disease, showing warning signs across blood pressure, diabetes, cholesterol and obesity,' Saurabh Arora, cofounder of the insurtech startup, told ET.
Covid has increased the risk further, said Trehan. 'People who got serious Covid actually have much higher chance of developing heart disease because there is inflammation of the arteries, and the heart muscle became weak. So, if those who got serious Covid were not checked out then they should get it now'.
Rising sales of cardiac products
Sales of drugs in the cardiac category have risen almost 50% in five years to Rs 30,723 crore in the 12 months through May 2025, according to data from market research firm PharmaTrac.
The rising rate of cardiac diseases is driving the growth of cardiac therapy, propelled by strong uptake in lipid-lowering agents, anti- anginal therapies and heart failure treatments.
"Consumption of lipid-lowering agents, antianginal therapies and heart failure therapies have almost doubled in the last five years with Indians experiencing heart disease 5-10 years earlier than the global average. The age group has now come down to 30-40 years from earlier 50-60 years, said Sheetal Sapale, vice-president, commercial at PharmaTrac.
Sales of cardiac products increased 11.7% in 2024 compared with the year before.
Some companies are stepping up to drive better awareness on heart health and risk factors and running regular check-ups on cardiac health.
Manipal Hospitals has ongoing partnerships with companies like Samsung and Goldman Sachs to drive awareness sessions and organise heart check-ups. Companies like CoinDCX and Meesho have included an ECG check-up for their teams, in addition to checks for risk factors like cholesterol, BP and glucose, said Plum's Arora.
More and more forward-thinking employers — especially in sectors like IT/ITeS, BFSI, pharma, and consulting — are beginning to shift their focus from insurance to prevention, said Nimitha Menon, health risk management consulting leader at Mercer Marsh Benefits.
'Key initiatives being adopted include early preventive screenings and targeted lifestyle intervention programmes, advanced cardiac screenings, including ECG, lipid profiling, and calcium scoring from age 30 onward, as well as onsite diagnostic kiosks and partnerships with health check-up providers,' she said.