Uniontown cardiologist promotes new religion – exercise
Uniontown cardiologist Dr. Verruna Yadagani is hoping that everyone in Fayette County and across the nation will practice what he calls the new religion – exercise. “Exercise is one religion that everyone has to follow if they want to reduce all of the risk factors linked to cardiovascular disease. The only risk factor that you cannot reduce through exercise is family history or genetics,” Yadagani told members of the Fayette County Community Health Improvement Partnership during a recent meeting at Penn State Fayette Campus.
And Yadagani, a member of the Uniontown Hospital medical staff, actually practices what he preaches. The physically fit 51-year-old man, who doesn’t appear to carry an ounce of fat on his lean body, is a long-distance runner.
Yadagani said he has participated in five marathons and spends about an hour to 90 minutes running seven to 10 miles a day when he is training for a race. He encouraged other exercise fanatics to convince just one person to begin an exercise program.
“If you’re a member of the YMCA or another gym, you should try to get a friend who doesn’t exercise to go with you,” he said. “If you’re a walker or a runner, ask a friend to join you. It’s more enjoyable when you have someone working out with you. Everyone should be exercising, and it’s up to the people who believe in it to convince others to join them in practicing the new religion. Anyone, who isn’t exercising now, is going to be lost.”
Parents need to make sure that their children maintain a healthy weight, eat nutritious meals and exercise on a daily basis, Yadagani said.
“We all have to push to make sure that exercise programs are offered to children in kindergarten and first grade,” he said. “It’s important for children to begin exercise programs when they are very young because it’s a great opportunity to develop good habits and healthy lifestyles.”
During the one-year period that he has practiced cardiology in Fayette County, Yadagani said he has been amazed by the poor health of some of his patients. They include:
– People in their 30s who are tipping the scale anywhere from 300 to 550 pounds.
– People with blood pressure readings as high as 220/140 compared to normal levels of 130/80.
– People who continue to smoke even though they are oxygen dependent and suffer from emphysema or heart problems.
“I have admitted patients with blood pressure readings of 220/140 directly to the hospital because their risk for heart attack and stroke is extremely high,” Yadagani said.
Yadagani said he is hoping that the newly developed partnership will help to convince Fayette County residents to stop smoking and to begin exercising and eating nutritious meals if they want to become healthy.
Fayette County has the highest percentage of overweight and obese adults in the state, with a whopping 62 percent of the population tipping the scale too high, according to information provided by the American Heart Association.
Hamner Williams, executive director of the American Diabetes Association’s Mid-Atlantic Region, said he agrees with Yadagani’s new religion – exercise.
The diabetes rate in Fayette County is very high compared to other counties in Pennsylvania and throughout the nation, according to Williams. Since 1997, the number of people suffering from diabetes has increased about 35 to 45 percent nationwide.
“Diabetes is really an epidemic right now,” Williams said. “About 7,000 people, which is about 13 percent of the population in Fayette County, are suffering with diabetes compared to the statewide rate of 9.8 percent.”
When someone is diagnosed with diabetes, Williams said it is a very serious health problem, which is equivalent to someone who has just suffered from his first heart attack.
“I have yet to meet somebody in Fayette County who doesn’t know someone suffering from diabetes,” he said. “Because of this, no one seems to take the devastation that this disease causes very seriously. We need to open our eyes.”
Williams urged everyone to ask themselves the following questions about diabetes and its complications.
“Do you want to go blind?” Williams asked. “Do you want to have a foot or an arm amputated because of diabetes? Do you want to have nerve damage and no feeling in your arms or legs? Do you want to have a sore that won’t heal? Do you want to develop heart disease? Do you want to suffer from end-stage renal failure?”
If people don’t want to suffer from diabetes complications, Williams urged them to join the new religion and begin an exercise program. He also advised people to visit their doctors and ask to be tested for diabetes.
“People don’t find out they have diabetes until they begin to suffer complications from the disease,” he said. “We need to modify our lifestyles. We’re known as ‘The Fat Nation.’ Obesity has become the norm instead of the exception.”
The risk of diabetes doubles for women, who are over the age of 45, and triples for minorities. But Williams said the good news is diabetes is a disease that can be easily controlled through diet and exercise.
“It’s really not rocket science,” he said. “It’s really not that difficult to begin an exercise program and to make sure that you eat appropriate portion sizes. If you walk just one hour each day seven days a week, you can reduce your risk factors for three major diseases – diabetes, heart disease and cancer.”
Although people do not die directly from diabetes, Williams said the complications of the disease, including end-stage renal failure and heart disease, claim many lives each year.
Williams said diseases associated with overeating and the lack of exercise cost the nation billions of dollars each year, including $300 billion for cardiovascular disease, $44 billion for diabetes and $65 billion for cancer.
“Each one of us works six months a year just to pay our taxes,” he said. “It’s unbelievable that $1 out of every $5 tax dollars is being spent on health care costs that are controllable. That’s the bottom line. Just think about how it affects you individually and how it affects your pocket book.”
Dr. Robert Baker, a Uniontown chiropractor, said people can control whether or not they suffer from heart disease, diabetes and cancer.
“A lot of people who visit my office complain about health insurance rates,” he said. “But these diseases are preventable, and we can lower health care costs.”
Baker, who tries to motivate his overweight patients by setting realistic goals, said he usually advises people to begin exercising two or three days a week and then increase to four or five days a week in an effort to meet the federal government’s guidelines.
Obesity in adults and children is a problem plaguing Fayette County as well as the entire nation, according to Maureen Smith, a registered nurse for the Pennsylvania Department of Health.
Smith said 69 million people in the United States are overweight, and 50 million people are considered obese. Obesity is based on the body mass index (BMI), a formula determined by gauging a person’s height compared to their weight. People are considered overweight if their BMI is more than 25 and obese if their BMI exceeds 30.
“You have to burn more calories than you take into your body. It’s as simple as that,” Smith said. “The obesity problem in the United States is widespread because food is everywhere, and it’s relatively inexpensive.”
Food companies spent $11 billion on advertising in 1997, according to Smith.
“The pressure to eat in the United States is tremendous,” she said. “McDonald’s corporate goal is to have every American no more than four minutes away from one of their restaurants. Television is another factor because the food advertisements prompt adults and kids to eat when they aren’t even hungry.”
Smith said another factor that contributes to obesity is the lack of exercise. Elementary school students only get about 25 minutes of exercise per week, but they watch 24 to 27 hours of television during the same time period.
“We have to start with our children because early intervention is really important,” Smith said. “We have to reach these kids before they develop bad eating habits. We have to teach children proper nutrition and exercise habits.”
Thelma C. Sandy, president of the Uniontown Hospital Foundation and chairwoman of the Fayette County Health Improvement Partnership, said she is hoping that local school districts will hear the important message about children’s health.
“We need to get rid of the soft drinks and high-fat snacks that are available to children in schools and make sure these children have something nutritious to eat and drink while they are in school every day,” Sandy said. “We also have to educate parents so they understand the importance of setting a good example of proper nutrition and exercise habits for their children. Our children are our future, and we have to start educating them so we can turn the problem of obesity and related diseases around.”
Dr. Kathleen McTigue of the University of Pittsburgh’s Graduate School of Public Health, who served as the keynote speaker, said the death rates for cardiovascular disease are much higher in Fayette County than they are in other parts of the state.
McTigue is working with the Fayette County Community Health Improvement Program to try to secure state grant funding that will be earmarked to combat cardiovascular disease in Fayette County.
“The point of this program is to find out why Fayette County has higher cardiovascular death rates,” McTigue said. “Once we determine why it’s happening, we can work together to do something about it.”