Women In Odisha At Higher Risk Of Strokes Than Men: Study

Bhubaneswar: Women in Odisha are more prone to stroke-related deaths than men. A study by Million Death Study Collaborators further revealed that stroke causes nearly 8 percent of all premature deaths of women in the state.

Odisha, Assam, Chhattisgarh, West Bengal and North-Eastern regions are now in the list of high-burden states for female stroke deaths.

In these regions, stroke deaths among women in 30-69 age group were 2.4 times more than those in low-burden states of the total cardiovascular deaths, according to a research published in Lancet Global Health journal.

The report indicates that stroke deaths in women have increased in the last one decade and 67 women per lakh are dying prematurely as compared to 61 men due to cardiovascular diseases.

“Cardiovascular disease caused more than 2.1 million deaths in India in 2015 at all ages, or more than a quarter of all deaths. At ages 30–69 years, of 1.3 million cardiovascular deaths, 0.9 million (68.4 pc) were caused by ischaemic heart disease and 0.4 million (28.0 pc) by stroke. At these ages, the probability of dying from ischaemic heart disease increased during 2000–15, from 10.4 pc to 13.1 pc in men and 4.8 pc to 6.6 pc in women. A third of premature stroke deaths occurred in the North-Eastern states, inhabited by a sixth of India’s population, where rates increased significantly and were three times higher than the national average,” a study led by Prof Prabhat Jha of University of Toronto said.

According to public health experts in Odisha, the high burden of hypertension, heart attack and stroke can be attributed to high average salt  and carbohydrate intake, tobacco consumption, higher prevalence of diabetes and lifestyle changes among people.

Early detection and better management can help reduce such deaths, they added.

The World Health Organisation estimates show that India accounts for just over a fifth of cardiovascular disease deaths worldwide. However, Indians were found to develop heart disease a decade earlier in life compared with high-income countries.