New Delhi, Sep 11 While deaths from chronic diseases such as cancer, heart disease, and stroke decreased for most countries, in almost 60 per cent of nations, the rate of decline was slower, according to a study published in The Lancet on Thursday.
Together with the World Health Organization (WHO), researchers from Imperial College London, UK, analysed the risk of dying from chronic diseases for 185 countries and territories.
They found that from 2010 to 2019, the risk of dying from a chronic disease between birth and 80 years old decreased in four out of five countries -- 152 (82 per cent) countries for women and in 147 (79 per cent) for men.
In almost two-thirds of countries, the progress slowed, stalled, or even reversed compared to the previous decade.
Notably, in India, the probability of dying from chronic disease increased from 2010 to 2019 for both women and men.
The picture was worse for women, who had a greater increase in risk than men. Deaths from most causes of chronic disease increased, with heart disease and diabetes contributing heavily, the study showed.
China showed similar declines to Japan and South Korea over the period across most age groups and causes of death, despite starting with a higher mortality rate.
China also experienced the largest reduction in deaths caused by COPD (linked to smoking and air pollution) among countries with high-quality data.
“In many countries, effective healthcare programmes like medications for diabetes, hypertension, and cholesterol, as well as timely cancer screening and heart attack treatment, may not be reaching the people who need them, and they are being left out of the health system,” said Professor Majid Ezzati, from the School of Public Health at Imperial College London.
“If we are to get back to the rapid improvements we saw early in the millennium, we need investment in the types of healthcare programmes and tobacco and alcohol control policies that have been shown to be effective in reducing deaths in many countries,” Ezzati added.
Further, in most countries, reductions in deaths from cardiovascular diseases (including heart attacks and strokes) were the greatest contributors to declining chronic disease mortality.
Reductions in deaths from a range of cancers (stomach, colorectal, cervical, breast, lung, and prostate) also contributed to declining mortality.
However, increases in deaths from dementia, other neuropsychiatric conditions (including alcohol use disorder), and some other cancers (like pancreatic and liver), counteracted gains.
The team emphasised an urgent need to further roll out policies and health care guidelines and programmes, including access to preventative medications, screening for early detection of conditions like cancers, and treatment and support services both for long-term conditions like diabetes and acute events like stroke or heart attacks.
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