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29 March 2024

Heart diseases: 30% UAE youth vulnerable

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By Staff

Nearly 30 per cent of the young people in the UAE are vulnerable to heart diseases because of bad eating habits, high blood pressure, obesity and high rates of diabetes, according to the Emirates Cardiac Society (ECS).

ECS said the findings were a result of a random check up conducted on 4,128 young men and women through 13 medical centres as well as in public places in the UAE.

Its chairman Alawi Al Shaikh said the study was intended to determine the efficiency of early detection of heart problems and its effects in changing lifestyles.

“The study focused on the rate of hypertension, diabetes, overweight, smoking and lack of exercise,” he said, quoted by the Arabic language daily Emarat Al Youm.

“The study covered young males and females from both Emiratis and expatriates…males accounted for 25 per cent of those tested….”

He said tests showed 30 per cent of those examined are suffering from high blood pressure but do not know about it. Around 31 per cent are also suffering from high fat in the body while nearly 30 per cent have diabetes.

It showed 14 per cent of them are also above average weight while 20 per cent are suffering from severe obesity.

“The study found that nearly 30 per cent of those examined are vulnerable to blood diseases…30 per cent of them later visited doctors while 60 per cent began to change their lifestyles to avert sudden heart problems,” Al Shaikh said.

In recent comments, another cardiologist said almost a third of Emiratis are suffering from diabetes because of bad eating habits, lack of exercise and what he described as a radical change in the pre-oil lifestyle.

 “Latest medical surveys showed nearly 28 per cent of the UAE nationals are suffering from diabetes…this is a very high rate,” said Dr Hussein Haidar, a consultant cardiologist at the Abu Dhabi-based Al Noor Hospital.

“The main reason for this is the bad eating habits, lack of exercises and the drastic change in their lifestyle compared with their life before the oil era……another key factor is lack of awareness of the importance of having healthy food.”

Haidar gave no figures for the whole UAE but figures by the Health Ministry showed almost a fifth of the country’s eight million people have diabetes, making the country among the 10 nations with the highest rate of the disease.