Coronary Artery Disease

Syllabus: General Studies Paper 3

A study conducted by Sir Ganga Ram Hospital has said that Indians have an increased risk of Coronary Artery Disease (CAD) because of their smaller body surface area and not just a smaller diameter of arteries.

• In contrary to the general perception that Indians suffer more from CAD due to the smaller diameter of arteries.
• It was based on observational impact on 250 patients.
• 51 per cent respondents were hypertensive, 18 per cent were diabetic, four per cent were smokers, 28 per cent were dyslipidemic and 26 per cent had a family history of heart disease.

Key Findings

• The study found that the mean vessel diameter for males was significantly larger than those for females but when indexed to the Body Surface Area, these values were not significant.
• There has been an assumption that Asians, and particularly Indians, have increased risk of atherosclerosis (fatty deposits in arteries) because of their small coronary artery diameter. 
• However, from our observational study, it is proved that the coronary artery dimensions in the Indian population are not small, the risk is due to their small Body Surface Area. 
• Thus, the rationale for small dimensions of arteries being a risk factor for CAD is not valid in the Indian population.
• The study might also provide some insight into the use of diameters indexed to BSA as a cutoff for deciding the need for re-vascularisation (a procedure that can restore blood flow in blocked arteries or veins). 
• This study was done to estimate the size of normal coronary arteries in the Indian population, index it to BSA, and see if there is any significant difference when compared to the Caucasian population