, is the leading cause of
death worldwide.
.
‘Heart disease is on a steady rise and was responsible for more than one quarter of all deaths in the country in 2015.’
The
MDS used the Sample Registration System (SRS) of the Registrar General of India
(RGI) and monitored approximately 14 million people in 2.4 million
nationally representative Indian households, to produce underlying medical
causes of deaths for about 1 million deaths between the study periods of
1998-2014.
The principal
investigator of MDS is
Dr. Prabhat Jha,
who is the director of the Center for Global Health Research of St.
Michael's Hospital in Toronto, and professor of epidemiology at the Dalla
Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto, Canada.
Hundreds of specially
trained census staff visited households
every 6 months to obtain information on deaths
in the family using a modified version of the
2011
WHO verbal autopsy (VA)
questionnaire.
An in-person interview
of close family members was made to determine the deceased's health status
before death and record a narrative of the events leading to death. This
written information was then assigned to trained
physicians to assign a probable cause of death according
to the
WHO International Classification
of Diseases 10th revision (ICD-10) using strict coding
guidelines. If an agreement was not
reached between the two physicians, a senior physician made the final decision.
Findings
of the study include:
The rates of dying from
ischemic heart disease, in the age group between 30 to 69 increased rapidly in
rural areas of India surpassing adults in urban areas
The
probability of dying from stroke decreased throughout India. The numbers were higher only in
India's northeastern states, where the incidence of premature stroke deaths was
one in three making it about three times higher than the national average
Younger adults,
especially those born after 1970, were most susceptible to death due to heart
problems caused by narrowing of the heart's arteries
"The finding that
cardiac disease rose nationally in India and that stroke rose in some states
was surprising," said Dr. Jha. "This study also unearthed an
important fact for prevention of death due to cardiovascular disease. Most
deaths were among people with previously known cardiac disease, and at least
half were not taking any regular medications. Making progress in fighting the
leading cause of death in India is necessary for making progress at the global
level."
Dr. Jha also said that
the findings of unexpected patterns of
heart attack and stroke deaths need
more research and action if the world has to achieve
the United Nations
Sustainable Development Goal of reducing cardiovascular mortality by 2030.Reference :- Prospective Study of One Million Deaths in India - (http://cghr.org/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/MDS-Study-Protocol.pdf)
Source: Medindia
