The latest figures from the Ministry of Health (MOH) that the wellbeing of more and more people is affected by heart attacks, rising from 7,242 in 2008 to 7,813 in 2011. However, the number of people who died from heart attacks fell from 1,557 in 2008 to 1,102 in 2011. The statistics also show that Malays have also taken over from Indians as the highest risk group.
According to Associate Professor Tan Huay Cheem, director of the National University Heart Centre (NUHC), it used to be the case in Singapore that patients had to wait an average of 95 minutes at the hospital before an artery was unblocked, but, four years later in 2011, the average time from arriving at the hospital to unblocking an artery has gone down to 66 minutes. He also pointed to emergency stenting – keeping the blood vessel open with a metal scaffolding – as a reason why survival rates have been boosted.
After adjusting for an older population, the MOH reported that the rate of heart attacks per 100,000 people had fallen steadily from 45 in 2008 to 30 in 2011. However, that doesn’t mean Singapore is out of the woods just yet, as Associate Professor Terrance Chua, deputy medical director of the National Heart Centre, cautioned that heart attacks continue to be a major concern, due to the fact that they occur more commonly in the older age groups and the country’s population is ageing.
He said, ‘Heart disease and stroke combined accounts for one in three deaths in Singapore. Hence, it is still a major cause of death and disability, adding that ‘we cannot afford to be complacent,’ as the rates of diabetes and obesity in Singapore are rising, and both diseases are known to increase the risk of heart attacks. When it came to the Malayan increase, Professor Tan noted that Malays take a longer time to get medical help, which could reflect poorer understanding of the disease and its symptoms among them.