Lifestyle diseases now leading killer in India
KOLKATA, INDIA: (FILES) In this picture taken 09 May 2005, Eleven-month-old overweight Indian child Lokman Hakim Mondol is held by a relative at a hospital in Kolkata. Hakim who weighed 21 kg, died 22 May 2005, in the eastern Indian city, after doctors at the hospital advised his parents to feed him a normal diet of rice instead of powdered rice to bring his weight under control according to reports from the Press Trust of India.
Lifestyle-related ailments have replaced infectious diseases as the leading killer of Indians, according to the World Health Organization (WHO), which said the change reflects a major shift over the past decade.
At present, out of every 10 deaths in India, eight are caused by non-communicable diseases (NCDs) such as cardiovascular diseases, cancers, chronic respiratory diseases and diabetes in urban India. In rural India, six out of every 10 deaths is caused by NCDs, reports the Times of India.
Cardiovascular diseases will be the largest cause of death and disability in India by 2020, the paper cited the WHO as saying. It is estimated that the overall prevalence of diabetes, hypertension, ischemic heart diseases (IHD) and stroke is 62.47, 159.46, 37.00 and 1.54 respectively per 1,000 population of India. Additionally, there are around 250,000 cancer cases in India.
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