Heart disease cases up by 28% during pandemic —PHA chief

The Philippine Heart Association (PHA) on Thursday said cases of heart diseases in the Philippines increased by 28% in 2021, which may be caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Tumaas ng 28%. Nakakagulat at nakakatakot. Halos 30% ‘yan. Ito ay nangyari during the pandemic, so ibig sabihin may epekto talaga ang pandemic sa cardiovascular disease,” PHA president Dr. Gilbert Vilela said during a Laging Handa briefing. 

(Heart ailments increased by 28%. This is surprising and frightening. That’s almost 30%. This happened during the pandemic, so it means that the pandemic actually has an effect on cardiovascular disease.)

Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) data show that ischaemic heart diseases were the leading cause of death from January to October 2021 with 110,332 cases or 18.3% of the total deaths in the country.

This was a 28.0% increase from the 86,164 deaths or 16.9% of the total deaths in the country during the same period in 2020, PSA added.

The second and third causes of deaths in the country were cerebrovascular diseases and deaths due to COVID-19, respectively.

Vilela said that the cause of this case growth may be due to the fear of people with heart conditions to go to the hospitals as they may get infected with the coronavirus disease, enduring their pain while not being able to take medicines.

He added that anxiety and mental stress can also lead to a heart disease as they “create a massive systemic inflammation.”

“‘Yung mga taong may sakit sa puso, pwedeng maitulak sa heart attack. ‘Yun namang mga taong walang sakit sa puso, pwedeng magkasakit sa puso. Bukod doon" (People with heart disease can have a heart attack. Those people who don’t have heart disease, can get heart disease. Aside from that). "It creates a behavior that is unfriendly to heart, to the cardiovascular health,” he said.

Vilela on Wednesday called on all persons diagnosed with cardiovascular disease to get COVID-19 vaccine booster shots, on top of the primary vaccine series.

He then said that all COVID-19 vaccines and booster shots, regardless of the brand, were safe and effective even for those who have heart conditions.

“‘Pag kayo po ay nagpabakuna, maliligtas niyo po ang inyong sarili at pangalawa, ang mga mahal niyo sa buhay. Kasi kung wala kang bakuna, at ikaw ay nagkaron ng COVID-19, dadalhin mo sa kanila. Diba sabi mo mahal mo sila? Bakit mo sila hahawaan?” Vilela added.

(When you get vaccinated, you can save yourself and your loved ones. If you are not vaccinated and you have COVID-19, you transmit it to them. Didn't you say you love them? Why would you infect them?)

Malacañang said Tuesday that over 63 million Filipinos are now fully vaccinated against COVID-19, exactly a year since the Philippine government started its vaccine rollout. —LBG, GMA News