LAHORE - Like other parts of the world, the World Heart Day 2008 will be observed in the country today (Sunday) with warnings that Pakistan is going to face epidemic of heart diseases. The World Heart Day will be observed under the theme "Know your risk", underlining the importance of creating awareness among the people about risk factors of heart diseases. A public awareness seminar in this regard was organised by Punjab Institute of Cardiology (PIC), Lahore, on Saturday. Addressing the seminar Prof Dr Nadeem Hayat Malik, Professor of Cardiology at PIC, warned that Pakistan was going to face epidemic of heart diseases due to abnormal habits among people couple with negligible efforts by the health authorities to control the spread of heart disease. He stressed the need to create awareness among the people to urgently do something to avoid blood pressure, diabetes mellitus, smoking, lipid and lipoprotein (cholesterol, trig central obesity (the factor of insulin resistance), which were the major factors of heart diseases in the country. He said that people can easily avoid these preventable risk factors by adopting healthy lifestyles as against the unavoidable/fixed factors like age, gender and family history risking heart disease among the people. He said that different studies had suggested that heart disease was no longer a disease of the rich people, as people below the poverty line were most vulnerable to heart diseases. Besides, he said the heart diseases were also found proportionately high among the youth particularly belonging to male gender as well as among women in post-menopausal age. He said that the ratio of heart diseases would tremendously increase during the next 10 years due to high blood pressure, cholesterol, smoking and lack of exercise in the lifestyles of the people of Pakistan. He warned that every third person will be suffering from high blood pressure by the year 2025. He said that the heart diseases were increasing among young people due to excessive intake of junk/fast food. Prof Dr Nadeem Hayat suggested that the people to change their lifestyles and stop eating fast food and high cholesterol food with heavy cooking oil to avoid epidemic of heart diseases in the nest 10 years. He said that at least 17.1 million people died due to heart attacks around the world during 2004, while the deaths due to heart stroke would rise up to 23.4 million by the year 2030. Similarly, he said that at least 5.4 million people had died due to smoking in 2004, while another 8.3 million people would die by the year 2030. PIC Medical Superintendent Dr Riaz Ahmad Chaudhry also gave a detailed presentation on the diagnostic and treatment facilities at the hospital and reflected on its performance in catering to the load of heart patients from across the country. Meanwhile, Dr Naeem Tareen, senior consultant cardiologist, advised the people to regularly check their cholesterol, which should be maintained below 200, and added that if someone had suffered a heart attack then the cholesterol level should be below 150. He said that high blood pressure was another risk factor of heart diseases. He said that the increasing body weight and waist length was another major risk factor of heart diseases. "The people with waist length of more than 38 inches are at risk of heart diseases," he added. He said that diabetes also caused heart diseases as a diabetic patient could suffer a heart attack without feeling pain in the chest. He said that the cigarette smoking and lack of exercise also multiplied heart diseases among the people, adding that swift walk of 30 minutes a day was a best prevention and cure of heart diseases among the people. He mentioned another risk factor of heart diseases in the form of mental depression as a direct result of war on terror, bombings, suicide attacks and economic recession would contribute to heart diseases.