Stroke 3rd leading cause of deaths in India in 2019, dementia fastest growing disorder

A recent study on disease burden in the country has found that stroke is the third biggest cause of death in India. The study also claimed that dementia is the fastest growing neurological disorder. The results of the study that examined the disease burden from neurological disorders across the country from 1990 to 2019, was published in The Lancet Global Health on Wednesday.

Stroke caused 699,000 deaths last year

According to the study, stroke caused 699,000 deaths in India in 2019, accounting for 7.4 per cent of the total deaths in the country. It also claimed that heart diseases and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease were the two leading causes of death. The contribution of non-communicable neurological disorders and neurological injuries to the total disease burden has more than doubled in the last three decades.

The paper also found that the burden of many neurological disorders varies substantially across the states of India. The neurological disorders stated in the study include "non-communicable neurological disorders (stroke, headache disorders, epilepsy, cerebral palsy, Alzheimer's disease and other dementias, brain and central nervous system cancer, Parkinson's disease, multiple sclerosis, motor neuron diseases, and other neurological disorders), communicable neurological disorders (encephalitis, meningitis, and tetanus), and injury-related neurological disorders (traumatic brain injuries and spinal cord injuries)."

While some of the reasons for the rise in these are known, a few still remain in question. High blood pressure, air pollution, dietary risks, high fasting plasma glucose and high body-mass index are among the top problematic risk factors known to cause neurological disorders. The study stated that out of the total neurological disorders disease burden found in 2019, 82.8 per cent were related to non-communicable disorders of which stroke constituted 37.9 per cent. Meanwhile, migraine amounted to 16 per cent, epilepsy 11.3 per cent, cerebral palsy 5.7 per cent and Alzheimer’s 4.6 per cent of the diseases.  

Health experts react to the paper published in The Lancet

Professor Balram Bhargava, Director General, ICMR said that Neurological disorders contribute 10 per cent of the total burden in India. "This research paper provides the first consolidated estimates on the burden of most neurological disorders for every state of India from 1990 to 2019. Neurological disorders contribute 10 per cent of the total disease burden in India. The findings presented in this research paper are useful for health-care planning at the state level to reduce the burden of the neurological disorder," he said.

Meanwhile, the President of the Public Health Foundation of India, Prof K Srinath Reddy, said that the rise is not a surprise. "The rise of non-communicable disease-related risk factors, as leading contributors to neurological disorders and resultant disability in India, is not a surprise. It reflects the demographic, socio-economic and nutrition transitions that have steered the shift in our epidemiological profile over the past 30 years."

Meanwhile, Professor Vinod Paul, a Member of the NITI Aayog explained that the scientific paper presents a comprehensive perspective of the issue over the last thirty years, and systematically highlights the variations between the states. “Several government policies and initiatives are in place to address the burden of neurological disorders across India, however, more focused efforts are required for the planning of specific neurology services in each state. There is a need to address the shortage of trained neurology workforce, and strengthen early detection and cost-effective management of neurological disorders in the country to deal with their growing burden," he said.

The findings reported in the published paper are part of the Global Burden of Disease Study 2019. The analytical methods of this study have been refined over a quarter-century of scientific work and have been reported in more than 16,000 peer-reviewed publications, making it the most widely used approach globally for disease burden estimation. It has also been acknowledged by leading health officials.

(with inputs from ANI)

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