HYDERABAD: Hypertension and smoking rank as leading causes of deaths globally. Case in point, in 2017, 34.1 million deaths globally were attributed to the two risk factors and high fasting plasma glucose, high body-mass index, according to the Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors Study (GBD) 2017, published in The Lancet.
According to the findings of the study, among the high-risk factors, high systolic blood pressure accounted for 10.4 million deaths and 218 million Disability Adjusted Life Years (DALYs). When it comes to smoking, 7.1 million deaths were reported and 182 DALYs.
When it comes to Telangana, non-communicable diseases (NCD) screening programme is being conducted to detect people suffering from hypertension, diabetes and cancer, and later people are offered medication, and a follow-up on their condition is done.
Under this, men and women above 30 years of age are screened for NCDs. The screening programme has been completed in 12 districts and is being conducted in the remaining districts.
According to statistics, out of 23,88,376 people in 12 Telangana districts, a little over 1.49 lakh people were detected with hypertension, 1,21,740 with diabetes, 11,56 with cancer. The screening programme holds significance as officials from the State Health department said that around 60per cent of the diseases burden in Telangana is because of the NCDs. However, the number of people detected with the NCDs is lesser than the estimates as existing cases were not accounted for.
“Only people who did not know that they had any of the NCDs and detected during the screening programme were counted. Now, old cases too will be included,” said the official.
With high burden of diseases because of NCDs, the screening programme is being streamlined and there could be some more changes in the way people are screened and the treatment provided to them.