By Chetana Belagere Dr Ks Ravindranat
Heart attack deaths in Hassan: Is it a local phenomenon?
There are a lot of different reasons leading to somebody’s death. Experts argue that finding ways to age healthily should be the next frontier in cardiology.
Synopsis: It’s tempting to blame isolated causes like the vaccine or weather or local food, but the truth is more systemic. Hassan’s cluster got media attention, but doctors see young patients in OPD every week — IT professionals, teachers, entrepreneurs — who never imagined they were at risk.
Panic gripped Hassan in Karnataka when 22 people, most of them aged below 40, reportedly died of heart attacks within 40 days.
Social media is rife with speculation, particularly linking the deaths to anti-Covid-19 vaccination. But experts say the real crisis runs deeper and is far more complex, and Hassan’s spike is just the tip of a global iceberg.
Cardiologists across India and the world have been raising red flags about a quiet epidemic: the rise of heart attacks among the young.
Experts South First spoke to said this is not confined to Hassan or Karnataka alone.
“The risk factors are everywhere — sedentary lifestyle, processed diets, undiagnosed hypertension, diabetes, and unchecked stress,” said Dr. Mukherjee, a Senior Interventional Cardiologist based in Hyderabad. “What we are witnessing is not a mysterious outbreak, but rather the consequences of how our lives have changed.”
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Not a local phenomenon
People from Karnataka began to panic after several districts began to report continuous heart-attack deaths of young people. A renowned journalist brought it to the notice of Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, who agreed that this is becoming concerning and instructed a committee to be set up with senior cardiologists.
The committee was headed by Dr KS Ravindranath, the director of Sri Jayadevea Institute of Cardiovascular Sciences and Research (SJICSR) in Bengaluru.
The deaths in Hassan created panic, forcing the government to start looking into the data around heart attack deaths in the district and state. It must be noted that in India, there is no data on heart attack-related deaths. However, Karnataka’s health ministry collected data from January 2025 to May 2025 from government hospitals and found that there were 6,943 heart attack-linked deaths in Karnataka.
The data on heart attack deaths in Hassan for the same period, collected from the Hassan Institute of Medical Sciences, is 183, which is around 36 per month.
“While the team is still working to know the reason for heart attacks in those youngsters who died in Hassan in the last 40 days, it must be known that the incidence of heart attack-related deaths in Hassan is more or less the same as across the state. But we are looking into the details of these young people who had died by doing a verbal autopsy only,” Dr Ravindranth told South First.
Jayadeva Hospital alone reported 119 heart-attack deaths between January and June, with 21 deaths reported in June alone. Meanwhile, in Jayadeva Hospital of Kalburgi, 95 deaths have been reported, of which 23 were in May.
Interestingly, senior cardiologists who are not part of the study and from different states agreed that the data is showing a disturbing trend globally.. In the US alone, recent studies showed that one in five heart attack patients was under 40. Between 2019 and 2023, heart attacks among those aged 18–44 rose by more than 60%. Similar patterns are emerging in Southeast Asia, Europe, and parts of Africa.
“It’s tempting to blame isolated causes like the vaccine or weather or local food, but the truth is more systemic,” said Dr CN Manjunath, Cardiologist and MP from Bengaluru South. “Hassan’s cluster got media attention, but I see young patients in OPD every week — IT professionals, teachers, entrepreneurs — who never imagined they were at risk.”
The World Health Organisation has already flagged early-onset of non-communicable diseases (NCDs), especially cardiovascular disease, as a major threat in low- and middle-income countries. In India, NCDs account for nearly 64 percent of all deaths, and cardiac disease is the leading contributor.
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The global young heart crisis
People ask what’s driving this younger generation to cardiac events? South First spoke to experts, and they felt that it is a mix of:
Unhealthy diets rich in saturated fats and processed sugars
Physical inactivity driven by digital lifestyles
Poor sleep hygiene and high stress levels
Undiagnosed or untreated blood pressure, diabetes, and cholesterol
Environmental factors like air pollution
Consumption of tobacco, alcohol, or any recreational drugs
Obesity and other metabolic health diseases
Genetics, family history, and use of medications for any infections
ICMR’s first study conclusively showed that “Covid-19 vaccination does not increase the risk of unexplained sudden death in young adults. The second study, being conducted by AIIMS, New Delhi, is still looking at the other possibilities of sudden heart attacks among the young.
Meanwhile, scientists and doctors from other countries have also argued that “there are a lot of different causes that could lead to somebody’s death, and that can lead to misclassification or oversimplifications. They argued that finding ways to age healthily should be the next frontier in cardiology.
They also noticed that the types of heart disease people are dying from have also changed. The Journal of the American Heart Association, in an analysis of data from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, found that 54 percent of people who died earlier lost their lives to a type of acute ischemic heart disease. However, now there is an increase in heart failure, hypertensive heart disease, and arrhythmias. India should probably look into the nature of heart attacks or heart-related deaths from India, too, informed the doctors.
“There is also a degree of denial,” said Dr Devishetty in an earlier interview with South First. He said people in their 20s and 30s don’t believe they could be at risk for heart disease, so they don’t go for annual check-ups, even if they have a family history.
Dr Mukherjee argued that “it might look like certain regions are more affected, but there’s no real scientific proof that heart attacks are targeting one area more than others. He agreed that many youngsters are undergoing angioplasty.
He attributed the phenomenon to doctors diagnosing the problems earlier and people seeking help. “What matters is awareness, timely action, and making lasting changes on how we live: not living in fear,” Dr Mukherjee added.
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When fitness is not enough
In 2021, Sandalwood actor Puneeth Rajkumar, who was known for his rigorous workouts and seemingly healthy lifestyle, suffered a fatal cardiac arrest post a gym session.
His death forced many South Indian men in their 30s and 40s to reconsider the illusion that fitness alone can prevent heart issues. It also brought attention to the role of genetics (his father, Dr Rajkumar, also had died of a heart condition). Even the death of Big Boss winner Siddharth Shukla in 2021 shocked Bollywood and TV audiences.
What can be done?
Cardiologists emphasised that the most effective way to prevent early heart attacks is a comprehensive lifestyle overhaul, beginning as early as the 20s.
“By the time you hit 35, your arteries could already have silent plaque build up. That’s why we need to shift the conversation from treatment to prevention,” doctors argued.
“More sitting, unhealthy eating, constant stress, and in some cases, underlying conditions that go unnoticed,” Dr Mukherjee said.
He outlined a few preventive measures:
Routine screening: Blood pressure, cholesterol, and ensure diabetes is under control. If there is a family history, it’s best to screen often.
Dietary discipline: Cut down on saturated fats, red meat.
Exercise: At least 30 minutes a day of brisk walking, yoga, or any form of moderate intensity physical activity.
Sleep and stress: Prioritise 7 to 8 hours of sleep and manage stress with therapy or hobbies.
No to any form of Nicotine.
Ensure primary screenings and access to treatment
Heart-specific tests to know early warning symptoms
NT-proBNP: It is a biomarker released when your heart is under stress or strain. Elevated levels show early heart failure, fluid overload, or high pressure inside the heart chambers–even in young or seemingly fit individuals.
If you are dealing with chronic stress, fatigue, unexplained swelling, or have a family history of heart conditions, this test can detect hidden cardiac stress.
Troponin: It’s a protein released into the bloodstream when your heart muscle is damaged, most commonly during a heart attack. Even tiny rises can mean trouble, and the higher it goes, the more damage there may be. However, high troponin can also be sometimes due to intense exercise, severe infections, or myocarditis (post-viral) can cause mild elevation.
CT calcium score
Coronary Calcium Score is done using a CT scan to check for calcium deposits in the arteries. It predicts the risk of a future heart attack even if you feel fine.
ECG/ECHO and TMT are the standard tests that are done to record the heart’s electrical activity, an ultrasound of the heart that shows structure, motion, and function, and the latter evaluates the heart’s response to physical exertion.
(Edited by Majnu Babu).