Suicides, heart diseases shoot up in India

Study shows that 37% of suicide deaths among women globally occurs in India.

 

India’s share in global suicide deaths, prevalence of ischemic heart disease and stroke, and chronic obstructive lung disease cases have increased between 1990 and 2016, said the papers released by Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR).

The data was released on Wednesday by the India State-level Disease Burden Initiative, a joint study of ICMR, Public Health Foundation of India (PHFI), Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation and other institutes in collaboration with Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.

The paper brought to light some shocking revelations, one of them being that 37% of suicide deaths among women globally, occur in India, while the suicide rate among the elderly has increased over the past quarter century. The papers showed that suicide is also the leading cause of death in the 15-39 years age group in India.

“India’s contribution to global suicide deaths increased from 25.3% in 1990 to 36.6% in 2016 among women, and from 18.7% to 24.3% among men,” stated the papers.

Interacting with the media, Dr Rakhi Dandona of PHFI said, “I was surprised to find the number of suicide deaths among women so up. The rate is twice the over average standard. India comes at the sixth position globally.”

“Personal or social factors such as socio-economic circumstances, interpersonal, social and cultural conflicts, alcoholism, financial problems, unemployment and poor health are known as major reasons for suicide in India for both men and women,” stated the papers.

Cancer is another health hazard which is a concern among the doctors in India. “One reason is the lack of awareness among the people about the disease,” said Dr Prashant Mathur of ICMR.According to the papers, the proportional contribution of cancers to the total health loss in India has doubled from 1990 to 2016. However, the incidence of different types of cancers varies widely between the states.

“All cancers together contributed 5.09% of the total disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) and 8.3% of the total deaths in India in 2016,” revealed the papers.

The death rate due to cancer has increase 90.0% and 112.8% respectively since 1990. The highest crude cancer DALY rates in 2016 were found in the states of Mizoram, Kerala, Assam, Haryana and Meghalaya.

The leading types of cancer responsible for more than 5% deaths due to the disease, among both the sexes, are stomach cancer (9.0%), breast cancer (8.2%), lung cancer (7.5%), lip and oral cavity cancer (7.2%), cervical cancer (5.2%).

“Tobacco use was the leading risk factor for cancers in India to which the highest proportion (10.9%) of cancer DALYs could be attributed in 2016,” said the reports. Pollution was also stated as one of the major factors for lung related cancers.

An interesting fact also emerged during the conference, where the newly-appointed Director-General of ICMR and a cardiologist at All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) Balram Bhargava revealed that Mahatma Gandhi had high blood pressure.

“The Mahatma had hypertension and was on treatment. We will publish tables to show how doctors managed his blood pressure,” said Bhargava.

Full details of Gandhiji’s blood pressure records will soon be made public by ICMR. The data records are being released by the Ministry of Health as part its efforts to mark Gandhi’s 150th birth anniversary.

Piece on Gandhi’s history as a hypertensive is being published to make people aware that this is an old disease and is can be managed now, explained Bhargava. He added that by bringing this to their attention, they will try and help people to take low-salt diet to fend the disease.