NEW DELHI: Heart disease remained the leading cause of death in 2019, and diabetes and dementia entered the list of the top 10 noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) that take lives, according to the World Health Estimates published by the Organization World Health Organization (WHO).
People with pre-existing health conditions like heart disease, diabetes, and respiratory conditions are at increased risk of death due to COVID-19.
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The WHO said that the next update of these estimates will take into account the covid-19.
“The chances of containing diabetes in our country and in other countries are disappearing, and diabetes has slipped into the top ten causes of death. In India, unless national programs get a new breath of enthusiasm, deaths from diabetes and other noncommunicable diseases continue to accumulate. Covid-19 has made this task even more difficult, “said Dr. Anoop Misra, president of the Fortis-C-DOC Center of Excellence for Diabetes, Metabolic Diseases and Endocrinology and the National Foundation for Diabetes, Obesity and Cholesterol).
According to estimates, NCDs now account for seven of the top 10 causes of death in the world. This is an increase of four in 2000. The new data covered the period from 2000 to 2019.
Heart disease has remained the leading cause of death worldwide for the past 20 years. Now it is killing more people than ever. The number of deaths from heart disease has risen by more than 2 million since 2000 to nearly 9 million in 2019. Heart disease now accounts for 16% of all deaths, the WHO said.
However, on a positive note, the estimates confirmed the upward trend in longevity. In 2019, people were living six years longer than in 2000, with a global average life expectancy of more than 73 years in 2019 compared to almost 67 in 2000. But on average, only 5 of those additional years were lived well. Health.
“By far, the diseases and health conditions that are causing the most deaths are responsible for the most years of healthy life lost. Heart disease, diabetes, stroke, lung cancer, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease were collectively responsible for nearly 100 million additional healthy life years lost in 2019 compared to 2000, “the report said.
Injuries are another major cause of disability and death, with a significant increase in road traffic injuries.
Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of dementia are now in the top 10 NCDs. Deaths from diabetes increased 70% globally between 2000 and 2019, with an 80% increase in deaths among men.
In 2019, pneumonia and other lower respiratory infections were the deadliest group of communicable diseases, and collectively ranked as the fourth leading cause of death.
The report highlighted the toll of communicable diseases in low-income countries: six of the 10 leading causes of death in low-income countries remain communicable diseases, including malaria (sixth), tuberculosis (eighth) and HIV / AIDS (ninth). .