Non-Communicable Diseases

Part 1

Non-Communicable Diseases:

A non-communicable disease (NCD) is an infirmity that cannot be transmitted directly from one person to another.
NCDs, such as heart disease, stroke, cancer, diabetes and chronic lung disease, are collectively responsible for 74% of all deaths worldwide.
More than 75% of all NCD deaths, and 86% of the 17 million people who died prematurely (before reaching 70 years of age) happens in low- and middle-income countries.
NCDs share four major risk factors: tobacco use, physical inactivity, the excessive use of alcohol and unhealthy diets.
They are also known as chronic diseases and tend to persist for a long duration, often for the lifetime.

cardiovascular diseases (such as heart attacks and stroke),
cancers,
chronic respiratory diseases (such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and asthma) and
diabetes

While common perception would tell that these diseases affect the elderly alone, a detailed analysis would show that while age is a factor, it is far from being the deterministic one.
17 million NCD deaths occur before the age of 70 years which shows that children, adults and the elderly are all vulnerable to NCDs.

Risky behaviours, such as tobacco use, physical inactivity, unhealthy diet and the harmful use of alcohol, all increase the risk of NCDs.
Tobacco alone accounts for over 8 million deaths every year, including second hand smoke inhalation.
830 000 deaths can be attributed to insufficient physical activity annually.

Metabolic risk factors contribute to four key metabolic changes that increase the risk of NCDs:

As per WHO, 66% of all deaths happening in India are caused by non-communicable diseases and 54% of all deaths under the age 70 are due to NCDs.
As per an ICMR survey on mortality among tribals top NCD causes of death were cardiovascular diseases (heart diseases-24%), followed by cancers (11%).
The study has also shown that NCDs have replaced other causes of death (such as infectious diseases), even among tribal population.