The surgeon stated this at a briefing organised by the hospital to announce its decision to commence open-heart surgeries and spine surgeries at its facility.
Olugbemi said there are some heart conditions that people have control over and there are some that are congenital.
He said, “Some heart diseases can be avoided, some can’t be avoided. There are different conditions that can predispose people to heart conditions. There are the ones that people are born with and the ones that are acquired as a result of lifestyle or injury.
“The risk factors are many; sometimes there may be nothing one can hold on to as a risk factor, and many times that is the case. Apart from that, sometimes problems with the mother can predispose the child to it.
“For instance, people that give birth at a late age, having children when the woman is advanced in age. People that take certain medications when they are pregnant can also affect the baby. Some kind of sickness that affects the mother during pregnancy may also affect the child.
“There are some conditions that affect the baby while the baby is still developing. The heart problem is part of that condition. Those are part of things one doesn’t have control over. But there are some heart conditions that people have control over.
“The kind of lifestyle people live can predispose them to heart diseases. Smoking, sedentary lifestyle and infections can put pressure on the heart.”
Also speaking at the briefing, the chief executive officer of the hospital, Mr. Rajeev Bhandri, said the keywords for congenital heart diseases are awareness and early detection.
Source: HealthWise
