CHENNAI: There is no overemphasising the importance of preventing lifestyle diseases, what with projections setting heart disease as the largest cause of deaths in India by 2015.

The need of the hour, as physicians point out, is prevention and generating awareness on lifestyle diseases and their multiple risk factors.

It is as part of the national effort to treat prevention on a par with intervention that the chain of Apollo Hospitals launched its National Cardiac Plan. These Cardiac Care Awareness programmes will take the message of preventive cardiology to the masses, telling them to "Get Heart Smart."

This will include motivating people across the country to adopt a healthy lifestyle, stressing on the importance to prevent heart attacks. It will urge people to play a more interactive role in the prevention, detection and treatment of their cardiac ailments.

The Plan has two priority areas: generating awareness and prioritising health check-ups among corporates, patients and their family, the medical fraternity and also members of the public.

"Though Indians seem to have a genetic predisposition towards cardiac disease, there are known and modifiable factors that we can take care of," Prathap C. Reddy, chairman, Apollo Hospitals, said. Quoting the example of Seattle, U.S., in the 60s where intervention resulted in a drop of sudden deaths due to heart attacks by 70 per cent, he said, it was possible in India too.

Dr. Reddy released the latest edition of Apollo Life, which focuses on heart care.

I. Sathyamoorthy, cardiologist, Apollo Hospital, Chennai said prevention depended on how well one geared up to fight the disease.

In addition to the ethnic disposition, the aggressive disease progression and severe disease pattern in Indian patients was also alarming. However, a healthy lifestyle and periodic check-ups would go a long way in preventing cardiac disease, he added.

P. Ramachandran, interventional cardiologist, said altering lifestyle would not only prevent heart disease but also help avoid conditions like diabetes, hypertension and kidney disease.

Srinidhi Chidambaram, health communications consultant, Apollo Hospitals, explained the features of the National Cardiac Plan.

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