“Heart disease is highly predictable, preventable, treatable and even reversible” – This startling and yet highly researched fact is oft repeated by Dr Enas, Director of the CADI research Foundation and eminent cardiologist’s in his new book ,”How To Beat The Heart Disease Epidemic Among South Asians - A Prevention and Management Guide for Asian Indians and their Doctors. In my conversation with him, Dr Enas repeatedly stuck to this conviction that lot must be done to disseminate and communicate this fact to the large number of South Asians who he says are most susceptible to Coronary heart disease. According to the research foundation that he heads , “Over the past 30 years, the prevalence of CAD has increased 300%, from 2% to 6% in rural India and from 4 % to 12% in urban India – the latter surpassing those of the Diasporas”.

Have you checked your BMI lately ? Or had a  test of your HDL and LDL levels ? According to Dr Enas, the BMI, LDL and HDL levels laid down by the American Heart Association is not applicable to Indians and South Asians in general . The book provides specific recommendations for the desirable levels of various risk factors for Indians that are distinctly different from those of Americans and Europeans. “The totality of the data indicates a genetic susceptibility to CAD among Asian Indians possibly mediated through elevated levels of lipoprotein(a) __ a genetic variant of LDL cholesterol” says Dr Enas.

Dr Enas has two outcomes which he hopes will happen with this research. One, that doctors in America will take note of this variants when they treat patients with heart disease in the Indian American community. According to him, this is already been done in Europe where the standards are already different and early treatment and prevention is practiced. Secondly patient themselves in the community who have a family history and are genetically disposed to the disease understand their risks and take action and care as early as possible.

 Life-long maintenance of a waist size less than 80 cm in women and less than 90 cm in men and a non-HDL cholesterol of <130 mg/dl in both genders (less than 100 /mg/dl in patients with diabetes or CVD) offers the best insurance against not only CAD but also stroke and diabetes. According to Dr Enas, one must learn to eat right, quit smoking , exercise daily for an minimum of an hour and know your numbers – waist size, bmi, blood pressure levels, blood sugar etc so you can take corrective steps to maintain a healthy lifestyle.

To hear more, come and hear Dr Enas talk at a number of community sponsored events in Boston this weekend. Check our local calendar for details.

Heart Disease Epidemic Among Indians

February 20, 2010, 11:00 am, Waltham, MA
February 20, 2010, 4:00 pm, Burlington, MA

February 21, 2010, 2:00 pm, Shrewsbury, MA
http://cadiresearch.com/Boston2010talks.html

Dr. Enas is currently the Director of the CADI Research Foundation and Advanced Heart Lipid Clinic in Downers Grove, Illinois and Clinical Associate Professor at University of Illinois at Chicago. He is a member of the American Heart Association and the New York Academy of Science. He is a Fellow of the American College of Cardiology. He has received numerous awards and commendations including those from Asian American Pacific Islander Journal of Health and American Association of Cardiologists of Indian Origin. He is a past President of the Association of Kerala Medical Graduates and a past Chairman of the Board of the American Association of Physicians of Indian Origin (AAPI). He is on the editorial board of several medical journals including the Indian Heart Journal, Cardiology Today, Asian Journal of Clinical Cardiology and Ethnicity & Health. He lives with his wife Mary in Chicago.

Second Indo-US Health summit report for the prevention and control of cardiovascular disease that appears in the current issue of Indian Heart Journal (2009;61:265-274)

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