Lancet warns: While chronic disease deaths drop globally, India sees uptick in Cancer, Diabetes, and Heart Disease

In the past few years, India has been experiencing a dramatic shift in the public health trend. Where infectious illnesses such as tuberculosis and malaria had long dominated national attention and headlines, a more subtle, yet insidious threat has been increasing, lurking in the shadows: chronic non-communicable diseases (NCDs) such as heart disease, cancer, diabetes, and stroke.

A global analysis in The Lancet finds that deaths from these diseases increased in India from 2010 to 2019 (during and after the covid-19 pandemic era), while it declined for all but a few of the other countries included in the analysis. For a nation still grappling with access to healthcare as well as rising lifestyle-related risks, this trend can have serious implications.

The rise of non-communicable diseases in India India was one of the few countries where deaths from NCDs rose, and four out of five nations studied saw a decline. These were not small dips. The risk of death from heart disease and diabetes, among other conditions, increased for Indian men and women, with the increase being more prominent among women.

Interestingly enough, while there was a minimal 0.1 percentage point increase in risk before age 80 among the men, women witnessed a spectacular spike. For women, the rise was seen after the age of 40, while in men, the line went up steeply after age 55. These figures suggest that metabolic and lifestyle risk factors are impacting individuals younger than we could have thought, especially in urban India.

One of the key contributors to this progression was an increase in deaths due to ischemic heart disease and diabetes, like chronic kidney disease. But encouraging trends were also seen in one survey. Deaths from liver cirrhosis, COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease), and certain cancers, like stomach cancer, actually declined, especially among men.

A mirror to the changing lifestyle in India Why are they happening? Experts attribute it to a greater shift in Indian habits in the last two decades.

This is particularly disheartening because, while the majority of countries have managed to slow down or even reverse NCD deaths through public health measures and early interventions, gains in India either slowed down or had to be reversed.

Government data supports this trend. The Indian Council of Medical Research has said that the share of deaths due to NCDs rose from 37.9% in 1990 to 61.8% in 2016. All four main culprits, heart disease, cancer, respiratory disease, and diabetes, all have close connections to lifestyle and preventable risk factors like poor diet, lack of exercise, and substance abuse.

A call to action for public health

under the guidance of researchers at Imperial College London, is the first to map NCD mortality across the globe and track which countries have moved ahead or fallen behind in the process. And the results warrant somber reflection.

One of the biggest problems, said Majid Ezzati, lead author of the study, was that healthcare systems in most nations, including India, are not targeting those most vulnerable. Medications for conditions like high blood pressure or diabetes are on hand, but theyre not reaching everyone. Early screening for cancer or heart disease is still relatively rare, especially for rural or poor populations.

Leanne Riley of the World Health Organization, a co-author of the study, said that even though there are evident improvements in some countries, the overall burden of NCDs is still too high. She insisted on the need to scale up proven policies and expand access to care if we hope to change the course were on.

Eat a balanced, nutrient-rich diet

Choose healthy fats such as olive oil, avocados, fish etc.

Try and stay physically active, do moderate exercise (running, jogging, walking)

Avoid tobacco in all forms

Limit the consumption of alcohol

How to prevent chronic Non-communicable diseases

Readers Comments