Male smokers in India cross 100 million, second only to China

More men are smoking in India than ever before, with the number rising by more than a third from 79 million in 1998 to 108 million in 2015, report researchers in the journal BMJ Global Health.

Smoking rates haven’t increased for women, though, with 11 million women smoking in India in 2015, the study found.

Only China has more adult smokers — 300 million — than India, where more than one in four adults also uses smokeless and chewing tobacco.

Tobacco-control measures, such as banning smoking in public places, haven’t helped much. They led to a fall in smoking prevalence from 27% in 1998 to 24% in 2010 among men aged 15-69 years, but the modest gains were offset by rising population and incomes.

“During this period, India added about 1.7 million male smokers each year, with roughly an equal number smoking cigarettes and bidis,” said the study’s co-author Dr Prakash C Gupta, director, Healis-Sekhsaria Institute of Public Health, Mumbai.

The study found that 61 million Indian adult men smoked cigarettes (40 million exclusively) and 69 million smoked bidis (48 million exclusively).

Tobacco use, including smoking, accounts for 10% of all deaths in India. “In 2010, tobacco use caused about one million deaths in India, with about 70% of these deaths killing people in their prime, between ages 30 and 69,” said co-author Dr Prabhat Jha, professor at the Dalla Lana School of Public Health at the University of Toronto.

Smoking causes about 30% of all cancer deaths (including 90% of lung cancer deaths), 17% of heart disease deaths, and at least 80% of deaths from bronchitis and emphysema.

But cessation is uncommon in India. Last year, in the 45-59 age group, there were roughly four current smokers for every person who quit. In comparison, in the US and countries where cessation support is available, there are more quitters than current smokers.

“Raising tax on tobacco is the single most effective intervention to lower smoking rates, increase cessation and deter future smokers,” said Dr Jha.

The Tobacco Institute of India disagrees: “As a result of discriminatory taxation, the share of legal cigarettes in total tobacco consumption declined from 21% in 1981-82 to 11%, but overall tobacco consumption increased 38% during this period.”

For the BMJ Public Health study, researchers used data from three nationally representative surveys — Special Fertility and Mortality Survey (1998), Sample Registration Survey - Baseline data (2004) and Global Adult Tobacco Survey (2010) — covering about 14 million people from 2.5 million households, and made forward projections to 2015.

Source: Hindustan Times

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Cancer deaths have increased by 60 per cent in India, says government

With the number of new cases of cancer doubling between 1990 and 2013, cancer has witnessed a 5 per cent increase in its rate between 2012 and 2014. Cancer is world-wide the second-leading cause of deaths after cardiovascular diseases.

In 2013, death proportion due to cancer increased by 15 per cent which was earlier 12 per cent in 1990 around the globe. In last two decades, Indian government says that deaths due to cancer have increased by 60 per cent in India.  

Health Minister JP Nadda reported in Lok Sabha that there can be several factors behind such death rise which are ageing population, unhealthy lifestyles, tobacco consumption, unhealthy diet etc.

Nadda said the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) is implementing a National Cancer Registry Programme based on 29 population-based and 29 hospital-based registries.

Source: Nagaland Post

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Quit tobacco for a healthy heart and family budget

More than half of Indians without a medical insurance experience financial catastrophe if any family member suffers a heart attack, suggest one of Asia's biggest studies on the economic burden of acute coronary syndromes.

Carried out on 1,635 patients from 41 hospitals, the study says average out of pocket expenditure for a single case of heart attack is about Rs 1,41,000 ($ 2600).

The financial burden hits almost 60 per cent of the families with no medical insurance. Even for those with medical insurance, one-fifth of the families are crushed under the medical costs associated with the treatment of acute coronary syndromes.

When a patient spent more than 30 per cent of annual household income as out-of-pocket treatment cost, it is defined as catastrophic health expenditure. 

Though insurance helps to tide over the difficulties, the latest data from the central government shows less than one-fifth of Indians – just about 22 crore – have medical insurance. Similar trends due to the absence of insurance were seen from National Family Health Survey results from 15 states.

Acute coronary syndromes are caused by sudden, reduced blood flow to the heart muscle, which are a major cause of mortality and morbidity in the Asia-Pacific region, accounting for around half of the global disease burden.

“In Indian sub-continent, 60 per cent of un-insured and 20 per cent of insured participants, reported catastrophic health expenditure,” said Jitendra P S Sawhney, chairman of the cardiology department at Sir Ganga Ram Hospital, who was the principal investigator from India.

The Indian data is part of an Asian survey which looks at the economic fallout of heart attack in eight nations, including India and China. It found Asians on an average spend Rs 175,769 ($ 3237) as out of pocket expenditure for heart attack treatment, which is one of the highest. 

The World Heart Federation has classified tobacco as a totally avoidable risk factor of cardiovascular diseases. Its use, whether by smoking or chewing, damages blood vessels, temporarily raises blood pressure and lowers exercise tolerance. Moreover, tobacco decreases the amount of oxygen that the blood can carry and increases the tendency for blood to clot. Blood clots can form in arteries causing a range of heart diseases that ultimately result in a stroke or sudden death.

Source: Deccan Herald

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