Fast life, fast food, fast death. Indians are dying younger

MUMBAI: Thirty-four-year-old Jaydip Jedia had it all: a fast car and a faster life, a happy family and a happier boss.

 

Till one morning, on the way to his office in Andheri, he felt a sharp stab of pain in his chest. Luckily, he was able to drive to a corner before collapsing. Passers-by took him to the nearby Nanavati hospital. In the nick of time, say his doctors, or Jaydip would have died of a massive heart attack.

 

His wife of four years, Meena, is shocked and concerned that her ‘slim and fit’ husband nearly died, of all things, of a heart attack.

 

Jaydip was lucky. Several urban Indians aren’t. After years of decline, urban adult mortality seems to have shot up.

 

Sounding the alarm is the World Health Organisation. Its recent report titled ‘Preventing Chronic Diseases: A Vital Investment’ says lifestyle diseases like high blood pressure and heart disease are likely to claim over 5.46 million lives in the country this year. This constitutes more than half of the 10.3 million deaths expected in 2005.

 

“Sixty million Indians will die in the next decade unless drastic preventive measures are taken,” the report warns.

 

In 1990, lifestyle diseases accounted for just over 40 per cent of urban deaths (3.78 million). Health Minister Anbumani Ramadoss estimates that by 2020 more than 65 per cent of urban deaths (7.63 million) will be caused by these diseases.

 

“Urban Indians are dying at a much higher rate than ever before, thanks to a sedentary lifestyle packed with unhealthy food habits and mental tension and stress, personal and professional,” says Prakash Kohli, president of the Indian Medical Association, Mumbai.

 

Heart disease, says WHO, is the second biggest killer of Indians, accounting for 28 per cent of deaths. Communicable diseases, nutritional deficiencies, and maternal causes together account for 36 per cent. The WHO also predicts that deaths due to communicable diseases like TB, cholera, and enteric fever will reduce by 15 per cent in the next 10 years, while those caused by lifestyle diseases will go up by 18 per cent.

 

Health experts are worried that India is going down the same lane as the West, where lifestyle diseases account for more than 70 per cent of deaths. While experts are happy that communicable diseases like TB and measles will be less of a killer, they are worried that HIV/AIDS and stress-induced diseases like high blood pressure will strike down many.

 

“Adult mortality in urban areas is definitely increasing due to an unruly and fast lifestyle. Cardiovascular diseases as well as cancer and other lifestyle ailments are killing many more people now. HIV/AIDS has also emerged as a major cause,” says Subrata Lahiri, head of mortality studies, International Institute of Population Sciences, Mumbai.

 

Disturbed by the repeated warnings from the WHO and experts, the Centre is conducting a survey – till now a secret – on adult mortality.

 

Expected to end in April, the survey will throw light on why, and of what, a large number of urban Indians are dying prematurely.

 

Admitting the survey, Registrar-General of India and Census Commissioner Devender Kumar Sikri said, “It is across the country. I cannot give you any more details at this stage.”

 

A source at the registrar-general’s office, however, told DNA that initial results show an abnormal number of adult deaths. “These deaths are suspected to be due to HIV/AIDS and lifestyle diseases,” the source said.

 

But there is a silver lining. The WHO says at least 80 per cent of heart disease, diabetes, and stroke and 40 per cent of cancers can be prevented through a healthy diet, regular physical exercise, and shunning of tobacco products.

 

So, next time you want to light up or overeat, don’t.