WORLD HEART DAY: Stress, poor diet & obesity cause cardiovascular diseases

Team L&M

The Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (ASSOCHAM) unveiled heart disease-specific findings of the country’s largest primary healthcare survey report on the rising burden of non-communicable diseases in the country. The survey report titled Non-Communicable Diseases in India covered nearly 2.5 lakh people and 673 public health offices in 21 states to analyse the rising cases of NCDs and the social profile of suffering households. The study was conducted by ASSOCHAM jointly with Delhi-based think tank, Thought Arbitrage Research Institute (TARI).
As per the survey, heart diseases and hypertension have a prevalence of 1.01 per cent and 3.60 per cent respectively and together both account for 32 per cent of all NCDs in the country. The risk and prevalence of heart diseases increase significantly after 36. The survey also says that hypertension is more common in females (4.04 per cent) as compared to males (3.21 per cent). But the incidence of heart diseases is higher in males (1.13 per cent) than females (0.87 per cent).

Non-Communicable Diseases	Risk Factors
Heart Diseases	High-Stress Level, Poor Diet, Obesity, Sedentary Lifestyle
Hypertension	Low Physical Activity, High Junk Food Consumption with high salt content, Obesity, Air Pollution

As per the study, hypertension, respiratory diseases and diabetes have the highest comorbidity with heart diseases. On the other hand, hypertension has the highest comorbidity with other NCDs, and its prevalence significantly increases the risk of other NCDs.
The study observed that the national prevalence rate of heart diseases is 1.01 per cent with North-East states having the highest prevalence of CVD/Heart diseases followed by northern states, West Bengal, and Kerala.

Diseases	Comorbidity of Heart and Hypertension with Other NCDs
	Heart Disease	Hypertesion	Cancer	Diabetes	Respiratory Disease	Kidney Disorders
Heart Diseases	100	6.2	5.3	4.4	5.6	6.5
Hypertension	22.3	100	6.4	24.3	15.6	12.6