'Air pollution is key risk factor for lung disease'

New Delhi: Air pollution was the leading risk factor for chronic obstructive lung disease in India in 2016 followed by smoking, said a comprehensive analysis of several major non-communicable diseases released on Wednesday.

The Global Burden of Disease Study 1990-2016, published on Wednesday, also said that the number of chronic obstructive lung disease cases in India increased from 28 million to 55 million over a 26-year period. “The time trends in chronic respiratory disease burden in the states of India emphasise the urgency for strategies to prevent and control these diseases, including multi-sectoral efforts to reduce risk factors such as exposure to ambient air pollution,” said the findings.

The India State-level Disease Burden initiative was a joint initiative of the Indian Council of Medical Research, Public Health Foundation of India, and Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation  in collaboration with the ministry of health and family welfare along with experts and stakeholders associated with over 100 Indian institutions.

“India has a disproportionate burden of chronic respiratory diseases, with 32 per cent of the global DALYs or health loss from these diseases,” it said.

Disability adjusted life years or DALYs are years of healthy life lost to premature death and suffering. DALYs are the sum of years of life lost and years lived with disability.

The prevalence and age-standardised DALY rate of chronic obstructive lung disease were highest in the relatively less developed North Indian states in 2016 with a four-fold variation in DALY rate across the states of India.

Most states had higher chronic obstructive lung disease DALY rates than what would be expected for their socio-demographic level, with the rates generally highest in several North Indian states.

In 2016, the case-fatality rate of chronic obstructive lung disease was two times higher in the less developed Indian states.

Meanwhile, the prevalence of ischemic heart diseases (IHD) and stroke has increased by over 50 per cent between 1990 and 2016 in India, leading to doubling of deaths caused by them. It noted that diabetes prevalence in India has more than doubled in the period.

Punjab has been ranked at the top for the burden of IHDs followed by Tamil Nadu and vice-versa for diabetes. According to the comprehensive analysis of several major NCDs, West Bengal was at the top position for the burden of stroke, followed by Odisha.