New Delhi: As India observed World Heart Day Wednesday, the World Health Organisation (WHO) has said that India accounts for one-fifth of all deaths due to cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) across the world.
Ironically, the maximum deaths are being reported from among the younger generation.
CVDs in younger population are more likely to be caused by tobacco use, the WHO said.
According to statistics, 26 percent of CVD deaths in the age group of 30-44 years is caused by tobacco and 25 percent of the deaths take place in the age group of 45-59 years. According to the figures, 19 percent of CVD deaths caused by tobacco is in the age group of 60-69 years.
Citing a report of Global Burden of Disease study, Dr Tamorish Kole, president of the Asian Society of Emergency Medicine told ETV Bharat that CVD death rate of 272 per 100,000 people in India is much higher than that of the global average of 235.
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"CVDs strike Indians a decade earlier than the Western population. Particular causes of concern in CVD are early age of onset, rapid progression and high mortality rate," Dr Kole said.
According to the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) statistics, incidents of deaths due to heart attack has increased alarmingly in India.
As many as 23,246 people died due to heart attack in India in 2017, followed by 25,746 deaths in 2018 and 28,005 deaths in 2019, the NCRB report said.
Kole said that smoking, diabetes, hypertension, obesity, and dyslipidaemia are some of the major reasons for deaths due to CVD.
What has further made the situation more worrisome is the fact that climate change too poses unprecedented challenge to the human health eco system.
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"The Global Burden of Disease project determined that there is a strong relationship that exist between several diseases or causes of death and exposure to ambient PM2.5, namely, ischemic heart disease, cerebrovascular disease, lung cancer, chronic-obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), and lower respiratory infections (LRIs)," said Dr Kole.
He said that climate change has a variety of negative effects on health, including cardiac health.
"People with pre-existing medical conditions such as cardiovascular disease (including heart failure), people carrying out physically demanding work and elderly are particularly vulnerable," he said.
According to a study published in Lancet, in Delhi itself, non-communicable diseases (NCDs) attributable to ambient air pollution far exceed the global average, with hundreds of thousands of premature deaths resulting annually across India.
"Global warming is already affecting people's health so much that emergency action on climate change cannot be put on hold while the world deals with the Covid-19 pandemic," added Dr Kole.
