With people across all age groups becoming increasingly susceptible to cardiac arrests, the need for heart monitoring is greater than ever before.
Expectedly, the sale of drugs for cardiovascular diseases has gone up. The Times of India has cited Pharmarack’s data, revealing that Gujarat’s cardiovascular therapy market is worth an astronomical Rs 1,187 crore a year.
The TOI article notes that the sale of drugs for cardiovascular therapy rose to Rs 108 crore, the highest in 25 months, in December 2023, which is 15% higher as compared to Rs 94 crore in the same time in 2022.
Sales of cardiovascular drugs indicated admirable growth at 21% over two years – it stood at Rs 89 crore in 2021.
The report claims that youngsters’ awareness of health issues and the need for proactive action have contributed to an increase in the sale of drugs. The trend is visible even among those above 45 years of age.
“The sudden deaths caused by cardiac arrests have led to improved awareness among people to focus on early detection. This may have caused a rise in the number of cardiovascular incidents of cardiovascular, there is a clear rise in sale of cardiac therapy drugs. Moreover, pharma companies as well as hospitals and even corporates
are increasingly encouraging people to get regular health check-ups done as a preventive measure,” Alpesh Patel, chairperson, Federation of Gujarat State Chemists and Druggists’ Association (FGSCDA), told the daily.
Pharmarack reports that in Gujarat, CVDs make up the majority of all drug sales. In 2023, cardiac therapy accounted for 16.8% of the total drug sales, totalling Rs 7,079 crore.
According to cardiovascular specialists in the city, winter months typically show a higher prevalence of cardiovascular problems. As a result, from December to February, there are more checks and procedures.
A high number of calls for cardiac emergencies were made to EMRI 108 last year, with an average of one call every 7.5 minutes in Gujarat.
The prevalence of cardiac issues was also high, with 298 calls per 1 lakh people in centres like Ahmedabad. They noted that sudden deaths, which are frequently linked to cardiac arrest, encouraged many people to get preventive check-ups.
“There is much more awareness about symptoms and preventive check-ups. Thus, even if we don’t believe that there are more patients, one must believe that there are more people taking preventive medicines for conditions such as hypertension in Gujarat,” Dr Jayesh Prajapati, a city-based cardiologist, told the paper.
Dr Joyal Shah, a city-based cardiologist, told TOI that 2023 saw a high number of cardiac procedures across the age groups. He said, “Statin class of medicines for cholesterol control might be in high demand. Right from lipid profile to calcium score, the last year had seen a high number of preventive check-ups for cardiac issues, too. In the long run, it is a good sign that the underlying health issues came to fore and now many are managing the conditions with medication.”
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