THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Cardiovascular diseases contribute to the highest economic burden in the state amounting to Rs 226 crore in a year due to the use of tobacco, the state-wide analysis in the study ‘Economic Burden of Tobacco-related Diseases in India’ points out.
It has pushed cancers to the fourth place (Rs 55 crore) and the second and third places are occupied by respiratory diseases (Rs198 crore) and tuberculosis (Rs 67 crore).
The economic burden is assessed on the basis of three factors; direct medical cost of treating tobacco-related diseases, indirect morbidity costs and indirect mortality costs of premature deaths due to tobacco use.
Cardiovascular diseases contributed highest in the total direct medical cost with 51 per cent.
“Owing to tobacco use, cardiovascular diseases catch a person much before he gets affected by cancer. Like the huge economic burden it causes, prevalence of the disease too is high.
“ When a person approaches for treatment of tobacco-induced cardiac problems, we first suggest them to stop the usage to get full benefit of treatment,” said Dr Sivasankaran S, president of Cardiological Society of India, Kerala chapter and professor at Sri Chitra Tirunal Institute for Medical Sciences and Technology, Thiruvananthapuram.
The study estimated the costs in 13 major states in India which accounted for 86 per cent of the population in India.
On that basis also cardiovascular diseases shared the highest burden of Rs 3,600 crore in direct medical and indirect morbidity costs on account of tobacco use.
“The fact is that almost 95 per cent of people take loans or pawn their assets to find money to seek treatment for the disease, heart attack in particular,” said Dr K R Thankappan, professor and head of Achutha Menon Centre for Health Sciences Studies.
“If we take people aged between 40 and 50, a major reason for heart attack can be found to be owing to tobacco use. People are not that aware of the disease and more tobacco cessation clinics have to be opened in the state, which are now very less in number,” Thankappan said.
The study was carried out by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India.
It recommends the need to have a comprehensive tobacco-control policy, tobacco taxation policy, treatment for tobacco dependence, prohibition of sale and manufacture of all forms of smokeless tobacco products and chewing tobacco, enhancing public awareness and implementation of the World Health Organisation framework convention on tobacco control and tobacco-control laws.