Robust Punjabis falling prey to syndrome X

jalandhar: owing to a drastic change in lifestyle, from an active lifestyle to a sedentary one, with no change in the eating habits pun-jab's villagers, once known for their robust and healthy physiques are fast turning into patients of coronary artery disease. the ratio of villagers suffering, what is com-monly called, heart attacks to urbanites is high-est in punjab.experts point out that all over the world the incidence of heart disease is almost double in the urban areas. in punjab it is almost equal, experts say. besides this alarming revelation brought out in a recent study, it has been found that the risk factors here are different from those in the west. anger, hostility and anxiety have been identified to be among the risk factors in punjab. anger has been found to be more toxic among women as they get less opportunities to express it. then the cultural value system in which it becomes a status symbol for every punjabi household to be in possession of a car or at least a scooter or a motorcycle, leaves little scope for exercise. the good old bicycle is out and as far as agriculture is concerned the new generation of villagers have tractors and harvesters. or they give their lands out on contract to tillers. a study conducted on about 300 heart pa-tients, spread over two years, has come out with some startling results, smashing old myths about the excellent health of punjabis. the study says, punjab is heading for a health cata-strophe. heart disease will soon take on epi-demic proportions, if an awareness drive is not launched to bring about a change in lifestyles. punjabis still consume saturated fats in the form of desi ghee, butter and refined sugars. the study has been conducted by a team from tagore heart care and research centre, jalandhar, headed by dr vijay mahajan. prof jitender mohan, department of psychology, panjab university and ms meena sehgal from the same department were also part of the team. the study predicts that by the year 2015, car-diovascular diseases in punjab would replace infectious diseases as a major killer. another matter of great concern is the age group which is getting afflicted, which is 35 to 40 years. by 2015, heart disease will account for 34 per cent of all male deaths and 32 per cent of all female deaths. the most alarming situation is to rise in punjab which has the highest incidence of heart disease in the country. in western countries, the disease is mostly seen beyond 55 years and with a greater severity. the study reveals that the risk factors among punjabis are peculiar and different from those in western countries. so the strategies to com-bat heart disease here have to be different. smoking, high cholesterol levels and high blood pressure are some of the important causative factors in the west. but not so for punjabis. here obesity, especially fat around the abdomen, increased incidence of tendency to-wards diabetes mellitus, increase of a different type of fat in the blood known as triglycerides (and not cholesterol) and low amount of "good cholesterol" are the main causative factors. all these abnormalities, says the study, are collec-tively known as syndrome x. the basic cause for this abnormality is the adoption of sedentary lifestyles and the lack of physical exercise. excessive consumption of alcohol and a diet rich in saturated fats play an important role in creating syndrome x. the study reveals the importance of psycho-social factors like anger, hostility, the anxiety associated with the high degree of competition in all walks of life. females have been found to be more prone than men. in punjabi society, they remain suppressed. expression of anger by females is not tolerated be it a daughter, a wife or a mother.