Student Abdul Karim Muhammad Abdullah’s heart stopped after a sudden heart attack; Byblos region awoke to the tragic death of a 20-year-old girl as a result of a heart attack; Sudden death kidnapped the young woman Sumaya Al-Mays in Bar Elias after her heart suddenly stopped… 3 broad headlines topped the scene at the beginning of June, and mourned young people between the ages of 16 and 35, after their hearts suddenly failed them, leaving shock and sadness in the hearts of their lovers and their families.
One loss after another, mourning and blackness in different regions of Lebanon, and Hammana, Jbeil, and Bar Elias are only samples of the tragedy that befell Lebanon, where death is one, and the cause is one, “a sudden heart stop.”
Many questions become legitimate in this regard, and are imposed by logic, while the heart refuses all answers, as it is difficult for the families of the departed and their loved ones to accept the loss, especially those that come from heedless.
Has sudden death increased recently, or are we hearing about it more as a result of the spread of news on social media?
On June 6, Saint Anthony High School – Hammana mourned its beloved student and son, Abdel Karim Mohamed Abdullah, who died of a sudden heart attack. On June 7, the Lebanese University mourned the death of the Faculty of Law and Political and Administrative Sciences – Branch IV, the employee Sumaya Al-Mays, who died after a sudden cardiac arrest.
On June 8, the Byblos region awoke to the tragic death of a 20-year-old girl, as a result of a heart attack. This prompted the Michel Daher Foundation, in partnership with the Remy Rubeez Heart Association, to launch a campaign to detect electrocardiograms.
But before Abdel Karim and Somaya, 26-year-old Pascal Mahassen died on her birthday, after her heart suddenly failed her, and the 18-year-old Romi Nasr accepted her, and the 26-year-old Giorgio Moawad accepted her, who slept and did not wake up, and before that the tragedy was the departure of Charbel Morani. The 10-year-old, who was kidnapped by death in “heedless”, and his heart suddenly failed him.
Many names and young faces we wrote about with sadness and many tears, I did not know them personally, but their stories made us cry. They all left and left one question, “What happened to them all of a sudden?”
Are we facing a new phenomenon of sudden death or did these cases exist, but we did not hear about them often? What are the causes of sudden death? And how does medicine explain what is going on with this young group who does not suffer from any health problem?
In this regard, the Head of the Cardiology Department at Hotel-Dieu Hospital, Professor Rabie Azar, confirms to Al-Nahar that “the absence of statistics in Lebanon prevents an analytical medical reading of sudden death cases. However, in light of the spread of social media sites that publish pictures and news of some sudden deaths among young people.” It makes us hear more about these scattered cases in Lebanon.Therefore, as a scientific answer, there are no indications confirming or indicating an increase in cases of sudden death, but what has differed today is the ability to access and know information thanks to social media.”
Regarding the effect of the vaccine on the increase in cases of sudden death, Azar stresses that “there is no scientific and medical evidence to confirm this hypothesis, otherwise we would have heard of many cases in different parts of the world, and therefore sudden death cannot be linked to the vaccine, and there is no evidence that vaccination leads to Sudden cardiac arrest, but studies prove that the vaccine reduced the rate of hospitalization, complications and severe symptoms in patients.”
So, until today, no study has shown that the vaccine causes sudden death, although the Corona virus (its previous mutant alpha and delta) led to freezing in the blood, which in some cases caused cardiac arrest and sometimes sudden death.
Returning to the causes of sudden death in young people, the head of the cardiology department at Hotel Dieu Hospital indicates that “there is a study published 3 years ago in Lebanon dealing with the phenomenon of heart attack in young people, who are under 45 years old, and it was found that the main cause of this death is due to 3 Key factors:
Genetic factor, which is one of the main causes of sudden death in young people.
Smoking a lot.
High cholesterol.
In addition to the reasons mentioned, other factors such as drugs and alcohol (excessive consumption), and stress (loss of a loved one or loss of work…) that may cause a heart attack.
Therefore, prevention is better than a thousand cures. Azar advises adopting a healthy lifestyle, quitting smoking, maintaining a healthy weight, and urging not to drink alcohol. He also recommends conducting some tests to monitor blood pressure, cholesterol and sugar levels.
As for people who have a family history, or sudden death in the family, or cases of fainting and loss of consciousness, we advise them to perform an X-ray and plan the heart.
For his part, the specialist in cardiovascular diseases and medical interventions at Al-Rasoul Al-Azam Hospital, Dr. Mahmoud Abbas, explains that “the electrocardiogram is almost the final result of deaths that affect young people, while the cases that lead to electrocardiography differ among themselves; there are, for example, diseases of congenital malformations. Within the heart muscle, which is one of the main causes of death in young people, these cases have not increased, but the possibility of diagnosing them has become more present and effective, and even more available than it was in the past.
But what is remarkable today is the impact of the Corona pandemic on heart problems and their increase in some people, whether as a result of infection with corona or as a result of vaccination. Abbas points out that “the cases that have been registered, although they are limited, fall under the category of myocarditis, which may cause a problem with the electricity of the heart immediately, or after a period of injury, which may lead to death in some cases.”
However, it is not possible to generalize or go with any hypothesis because we need more time, studies, data and conclusions regarding the infection of corona in the long term. Today, we are monitoring and analyzing this data, but we need more follow-up and studies to assess the effects of corona, and to determine the diseases that this virus may leave in the human body.
Abbas also talks about “the occurrence of sudden cardiac deaths in some young people who exercise, eat protein, and are exposed to life pressures and excessive efforts, which may lead to sudden cardiac arrest. It is important to know that sudden deaths may affect healthy people who do not have problems in Arteries, but as a result of excessive exertion or the many stresses of life, they suffer from a sudden heart attack and then a sudden death.”
Abbas asserts that “90% of people who die in the first hour after a heart attack are caused by electrocardiogram.” It refers to the role of the important genetic factor in premature death in some cases, which have a family history of premature death due to heart disease, heart electricity, or smoking a lot…”.
Abbas warns of the most important warning symptoms, which are:chest pain, waFor frequent pain and fatigue when doing a certain effort.
It is advised – therefore – those “People (with a family history of premature death or hereditary heart disease) have an electrocardiogram (ECG). As for Corona patients, live your life normally without fear, but for those who suffer from new symptoms that were not previously incurred, such as fatigue and exhaustion when doing the effort, shortness of breath and acceleration in the heart rate, he must perform an image and planning of the heart, to ensure the health of his heart.”
Abbas stresses that “the phenomenon of sudden death in Lebanon cannot be linked to one factor, but rather to several factors, and the hypothesis of heart inflammation resulting from infection with the Corona virus or vaccine is present in a similar proportion as infection with any other virus that may affect the heart, as is the case When infected with viruses in the respiratory tract; These viruses can cause heart muscle problems.”