India is undergoing a rapid disease transformation. According to the report published by ICMR and The India State-level Disease Burden Initiative that compared health loss caused by different diseases and risk factors in India over time, it was seen that a rapid surge was observed in non-communicable diseases. A key metric for mapping this change is the disability-adjusted life years (DALYs), which is the sum of the number of years of life lost due to premature death and a weighted measure of the years lived with disability due to a disease or injury. Over the last 26 years, the country’s disease patterns have shifted mortality due to communicable, maternal, neonatal, and nutritional diseases (CMNNDs) has declined substantially and India’s population is living longer, meaning that non-communicable diseases (NCDs) and injuries are increasingly contributing to overall disease burden. Here are lifestyle diseases that are common in India.
Few interesting facts to know about!
1. In 1990, life expectancy at birth in India was 58.3 years for males and 59.7 years for females. By 2016, life expectancy at birth increased to 66.9 years for males and 70.3 years for females.
2. The proportion of all deaths in India due to CMNNDs reduced from 53.6% in 1990 to 27.5% in 2016, those due to NCDs increased from 37.9% to 61.8%, and those due to injuries changed from 8.5% to 10.7%. This means that the death rate due to NCDs was over two times that due to CMNNDs in India in 2016.
- CMNNDs: The disease categories among CMNNDs that caused the highest proportion of death were diarrhoea, lower respiratory infections, and other common infectious diseases; HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis; and neonatal disorders.
- NCDs: Among NCDs, the category of cardiovascular diseases was the leading cause of death, followed by chronic respiratory diseases, cancers, and the category containing diabetes and urogenital disorders.
3. The leading individual cause of death in India in 2016 was ischaemic heart disease, the death rate from which was twice as much as the next leading cause. The other NCDs in the top 10 individual causes of death included chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), stroke, diabetes, and chronic kidney disease. Diarrhoeal diseases, lower respiratory infections, and tuberculosis were the leading CMNND individual causes of death, and road injuries and suicides were the leading injury individual causes of death among the top 10 in India.
4. The majority of the leading individual causes of Years lived with disability (YLDs) in 2016 were NCDs, but iron-deficiency anaemia was the top cause across all three state groups, accounting for 11% of all disability in India in 2016. Here’s a list of iron-rich foods.
5. Child and maternal malnutrition was India’s leading risk factor for health loss in 2016, causing 14.6% of the country’s total DALYs. This is due largely to the contribution that malnutrition makes to the high-burden conditions such as neonatal disorders and nutritional deficiencies as well as diarrhoea, lower respiratory infections, and other common infections.
6. Air pollution was the second leading risk factor in India as a whole. Outdoor air pollution caused 6.4% of India’s total DALYs in 2016, while household air pollution caused 4.8%. Combined, they make a substantial contribution to India’s burden of cardiovascular diseases, chronic respiratory diseases, and lower respiratory infections. Read about indoor pollution: common indoor air pollutants you should know about.
7. The NCD conditions that were the leading contributors to disability burden in all three state groups included sense organ diseases (hearing and vision loss), lower back and neck pain, migraine, depressive disorders, skin diseases, and musculoskeletal disorders.
Overall, there is a decline in the mortality due to CMNNDs, which indicates that Indians are living longer. However, the overall disease burden due to NCDs and injuries has been rising.
With inputs from ICMR/India Health of the Nation’s States Report 2017
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