Deaths Due To Chronic Diseases Increase In India: Lancet Study

New Delhi: The chances of an Indian dying of a non-communicable disease (NCD) – such as cardiovascular conditions, cancer, or chronic respiratory illnesses — increased during the decade leading up to the COVID-19 pandemic (between 2010 and 2019), according to a study published in The Lancet.

Lead author of the study, Professor Majid Ezzati of the School of Public Health in London’s Imperial College, said the increase was 2.1 per cent for women and 0.1 per cent for men.

The mortality risk was found to be highest for females over the age of 40 and males over 55.

However, the point of concern is that the probability of a woman dying of an NCD, between birth and the age of 80, has increased after a slight decrease in the previous decade. It was 46.7 per cent in 2001, 46.6 per cent in 2011, and 48.7 per cent in 2019.

The smaller increase in probability for men has been attributed to improved diagnosis and treatment of 8 out of 20 causes of death, including ischemic heart disease and liver cirrhosis.

Lung cancer concern

Data suggested concerning trends for lung cancer in India, one of 5 countries to show increased mortality in such cases.

The other countries are — Armenia, Iran, Egypt and Papua New Guinea.

The authors of the study have cautioned against too close a scrutiny of their findings, because of the “very low” quality of data as a result of which findings are “subject to substantial uncertainty.”

Globally, the findings indicated the probability of dying from an NCD increased in 33 of 185 countries for women and 38 for men. On the other hand, the chances decreased in 152 countries for men, and 147 nations for women.