Are non-communicable diseases increasing in India?
Q. Why is it in News?
· The new national estimates for diabetes and other
non-communicable diseases (NCD) shows that 31 million more Indians became
diabetic in four years (2019-2021). The decade-long nationwide study was
funded by the Indian Council of Medical Research and Department of Health
Research, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare and co-ordinated by the Madras
Diabetes Research Foundation. The results of the study are to be published
in The Lancet Diabetes and Endocrinology journal.
Q. What were the findings?
· In 2021, a study found that India has 101 million people
with diabetes and 136 million people
with prediabetes. Additionally, 315
million people had high blood pressure;
254 million had generalised obesity,
and 351 million had abdominal obesity.
213 million people had hypercholesterolaemia
(wherein fat collects in arteries and puts individuals at greater risk of heart
attack and strokes) and 185 million had high low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol.
Q. What is the significance of the study?
· The study is the first comprehensive
epidemiological research paper which includes participants from 31 States and
some Union Territories, with a large sample size of 1,13,043 individuals. There
are two big trend indicators in the study.
· First, diabetes and other metabolic
non-communicable diseases, such as hypertension, obesity and dyslipidemia are
much more common than estimated previously in India and second, while currently
urban regions had higher rates of all
metabolic NCDs than rural areas, with the exception of prediabetes, rural India will see a diabetes explosion in
the next five years if left unregulated.
·
The study also highlights interstate
and inter-regional variations.
· The highest diabetes prevalence was found in Goa, Puducherry and Kerala.
While prediabetes was prevalent in Sikkim, hypertension was highest in Punjab.
· Generalised obesity and abdominal
obesity were highest in Puducherry, while Kerala had high hypercholesterolemia
and high LDL cholesterol. The lowest prevalence of NCDs was found in U.P.,
Mizoram, Meghalaya and Jharkhand. This cross-sectional, population-based survey
of adults aged above 20 years, across the country uses a stratified, multistage
sampling design in the study titled — “Metabolic non-communicable health report
of India-the ICMR-INDIAB National Cross-sectional Study.”
· While the diabetes epidemic is
stabilising in the more developed States of the country, it is still increasing
in most of the other States. Thus, there are serious implications for the
nation, warranting urgent State-specific policies and interventions to arrest
the rapidly rising epidemic of metabolic NCDs in India.
Q. How does this study impact India?
· While India in the past four years has
substantially added to its burden of diabetics and hypertensive persons with
generalised and abdominal obesity, the study gives us an early warning that if
not controlled, this population is predisposed to NCDs and life-altering
medical conditions including strokes.
· Experts have explained that India is facing the dual problem of
malnutrition and obesity. There is availability of surplus food, but after
being exposed to fast foods, a lack of sleep, exercise and stress creates a
perfect setting for NCDs to latch-on.
Q. What is the way forward?
· The answer to this developing pandemic,
is in wellness and in having a lifestyle that encompasses healthy diet and
exercise. NCDs have also been one of the major concerns of the Health Ministry.
· It has identified the four major NCDs — cardiovascular diseases,
cancers, chronic respiratory diseases and diabetes. They all share four behavioural risk factors — unhealthy diet, lack of physical activity,
and use of tobacco and alcohol. Programmes have been brought in to
strengthen health infrastructure, human resource development, health-promotion
and awareness-generation for prevention, early diagnosis and ensuring referrals
to appropriate healthcare facilities for treatment of NCDs.
