STEMI heart attack management programme reduces death rate by 6-7%

At a time when the incidence of heart attacks, especially among the youth is on the rise, ‘STEMI’ - a heart attack management programme taken up on an AI-based ‘hub and spoke’ model in 45 government hospitals in Mysuru, Bengaluru and Kalaburagi clusters - has become a boon to cardiac patients.

The programme was initiated by the state health department along with the Sri Jayadeva Institute of Cardiovascular Sciences and Research (SJICSR), in association with a coordinating agency.

The programme, which was started in March this year, has helped 16,521 patients in the Mysuru cluster alone, according to agency sources.

According to Dr C N Manjunath, the director of SJICSR, this programme has reduced the deaths caused by heart attacks by 6-7 per cent.

In the Mysuru Cluster alone, 15 hospitals have been mapped and connected to the SJICSR’s 400-bedded hospital in Mysuru.

Dr Manjunath said, “Each of these 15 hospitals is provided with a STEMI kit. This kit includes an ECG machine, a pulse oximeter to check SpO2 (Oxygen Saturation), a BP apparatus, a laptop, a printer to take reports and a mobile phone. So, patients experiencing symptoms of heart attack can approach any one of these 15 hospitals for preliminary investigation, including ECG”.

‘Report via AI’

“The report is sent via AI (Artificial Intelligence), through Cloud to experts at SJICSR or a panel of experts at the agency. The guidance on preliminary care by experts is conveyed by the agency to doctors at government hospitals. The patients are given preliminary medicines and care and are stabilised. The patients are later shifted to SJICSR via government ambulances. The agency monitors the entire process and coordinates with SJICR and alerts the staff there to be prepared to receive the patients for further treatment,” Dr Manjunath explained.

Rise in incidence of heart attacks

“As per a study at SJICSR, in the last ten years, the overall incidence of heart attacks among people of all age groups has increased by 20 per cent; and it has increased by 22 per cent among the youth and those between 18 and 45 years of age. Among the heart attack patients we are treating, 35 per cent are below 45 years of age. 15 per cent of these youth had a family history and their family members had heart attacks before the age of 55 years. 51 per cent of them were smokers,” Dr Manjunath said.

He added, “Besides conventional risk factors like smoking and alcohol, other factors which have contributed to this trend include significant lifestyle changes, physical inactivity, change in food habits, obesity and the like. Further, undue stress levels due to work pressure, odd working hours, working extra hours, inadequate sleep, worrying about the future, pressure to achieve too many things in too short a period, and breaking away from joint families (leading to a lack of emotional and moral support) are contributing to the rise in the incidence of heart attacks.”

“Air pollution can also be a factor. Covid-19 has also contributed to a 5 per cent increase in heart attacks. Besides the effects of steroids, Covid has led to the risk of clot formation in the arteries leading to a heart attack, arteries of the brain leading to strokes, arteries of the lung leading to pulmonary embolism and so on. Drug abuse, unaccustomed high-intensity exercises without a proper warming up period and preliminary cardiac tests have also increased the risk of heart attacks,” Dr Manjunath said.

“Since heart attack cases are time driven, for every half an hour’s delay, the risk of death increases by 7 per cent. So, timely treatment with the help of this STEMI programme has reduced the death rate by 6-7 per cent,” he said.

15 hospitals mapped with SJICR in the Mysuru cluster

The 15 hospitals mapped with SJICSR include six taluk hospitals of Mysuru district at K R Nagar, Hunsur, Periyapatna, H D Kote, Nanjangud, T Narsipura; four government hospitals of Mandya district including the Mandya district hospital, KR Pet and Srirangapatna government hospitals and the Pandavapura Sub-divisional hospital; three government hospitals of Hassan district including the Hassan district hospital and government hospitals at Channarayapatna and Holenarsipura; and district hospitals in Chamarajanagar and Kodagu, according to Tricog agency sources.

As per a survey done by district health officials, of the 32,88,991 people in Mysuru district, 2,92,719 people suffer from Diabetes, 3,71,655 people suffer from hypertension, and 12,269 suffer from Cardiovascular diseases. So, STEMI-CMD has the potential to aid all of them, especially those in rural areas of Mysuru district alone.