While the world is becoming a healthier place, India is lagging behind.
A new Lancet study warns that the threat of chronic diseases in India has deepened, even as most countries in the world are handling it better.
The death rate from chronic diseases like cancer, heart disease, and stroke has declined in about 80% of the world’s countries, home to more than 70% of the global population. However, an opposite and scary trend has been observed in India, where the death rates from such diseases have shot up in 2010-2019, according to the study led by researchers at Imperial College, London, and funded by the UK Medical Research Council, the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) and NCD Alliance.
The NCD (noncommunicable disease) mortality rate in India increased between 2010 and 2019, compared to the 2000-2010 period, with females experiencing a sharper rise of 2.1 percent compared to 0.1 percent in males.
The study covered five countries for its analysis and utilised data from the World Health Organization’s Global Health Estimates. The researchers analyzed deaths between time periods, countries and by age groups – young adults 20 to 45, working-age adults 45 to 65, and older adults 65 to 80.
Differences noted in men and women’s chronic disease mortality
While both men and women’s mortality risk from NCDs in India registered an increase, for females, the rise was sharper than men, between the period of 2010-2019.
The data noted that men’s chances of dying from chronic diseases between birth and age 80 years rose to 57.8 and 57.9 percent in 2010 and 2019 compared to 56 per cent in 2001.
Women’s likelihood of dying from an NCD showed a small decline from 46.7 per cent in 2001 to 46.6 per cent in 2011, before rising sharply to 48.7 per cent in 2019.
“There were decreases in mortality from cirrhosis of the liver and the residual category of all other NCDs for both sexes, with additional improvements for males in stomach cancer, COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disorder), stroke, and the residual category of all other circulatory diseases. The 2010–19 change was a deterioration (ie, going from a decrease to an increase) compared with the preceding decade for females,” Prof Majid Ezzati, School of Public Health, Imperial College London and lead author told The Indian Express.
Causes of NCD rise in men and women
The study authors noted that the increase in NCD mortality in men and women is due to ischaemic heart disease and diabetes – including chronic kidney disease due to diabetes. A decline in mortality from cirrhosis of the liver and the residual category of all other NCDs for both sexes was noted. Additionally, reduced risk of dying from stomach cancer, COPD, stroke, and the residual category of all other circulatory diseases, was also observed.