More heart attacks at early age in Bangladesh

Bangladeshis are having heart attacks at least 10 years sooner than typical sufferers of the condition in the West, according to preliminary findings of the largest heart attack study ever held in Bangladesh.
The study suggests novel findings that high level of toxic heavy metals such as arsenic, copper and lead may be increasing the risk of heart attack in Bangladesh.
Known as BRAVE (Bangladesh Risk of Acute Vascular Events), the study is a partnership between researchers at the Cambridge University in England, the Dhaka-based health research institution icddr,b and the Bangladesh National Institute of Cardiovascular Diseases (NICVD).
Investigators have found that the average age among Bangladeshis to have heart attack was 52 years, with approximately 40% of all cases aging less than 50 years. This highlights that Bangladeshis are suffering from heart attack in a much younger, productive age.
It also shows that approximately 12% of all first heart attack cases admitted at the NICVD were women. This underscores a potentially crucial public health issue, as a majority of the early heart attack symptoms in women may have been ignored at the households.
About 80% of all heart attack cases and about 60 percent of all healthy participants were current tobacco users, estimates that are significantly high by any regional or international standards.
Bangladesh has some of the highest rates of cardiovascular disease in South Asia yet remains one of the least studied populations. Although the 'classic' cardiovascular risk factors (such as blood fats, blood pressure, diabetes, smoking, obesity) apply to Bangladeshis, their precise contribution to heart attacks was unclear in this population until now.