With an ever-increasing number of Indians suffering from heart diseases, a drastic change in lifestyle and eating habits is the need of the hour to tackle the alarming situation with a special focus on youth, say doctors. Cardiovascular diseases would be the largest cause of death and disability in India by 2020 as per a World Health Organisation (WHO) report. "The average age of people with heart ailments is coming down. We are getting patients as young as 20 years," Neeraj Bhalla, senior consultant and director of the heart centre at BLK Super Specialty Hospital, told IANS ahead of World Heart Day that is observed Sep 29. "In the next five to 10 years around 20 percent of the Indian population would be affected," he added. Atul Mathur, director of Invasive Cardiology at Fortis Escorts Heart institute, said that patients under the age of 40 have increased from 10 percent a decade ago to 30 percent today. "This is a perturbing development... A drastic change in lifestyle and food habits is needed," Mathur told IANS. According to doctors, many of the young professionals today have odd working hours that leads to stress, and not many of them have the privilege of savouring home cooked meals. On top of it, the indulgence in smoking and drinking to "reduce the stress" worsens the situation. Such a lifestyle results in high blood pressure, obesity, diabetes, etc. leading to heart ailments. "Smoking, eating junk food and less physical exercise are the evils that are severely affecting our youth today. On top of it the pressure at work which in many cases leads to drinking and smoking also complicates the situation," Kamaldeep Singh, consultant cardiologist at Gurgaon-based Columbia Asia Hospital, told IANS.