Odisha in top-10 in high BP, bad cholesterol among children & teens!

Bhubaneswar: Not a hearty news for Odisha. The State seems hurtling fast towards a higher rate of heart failures in future. The high risk factors that trigger heart failures in adults are now conspicuously prevalent in children and adolescents which are enough to ring the alarm bell for the health mandarins in the State.

Odisha figured among the top-10 in the country in hypertensive adolescents. With 5.4 per cent adolescents in the age-group of 10-19 years identified with high blood pressure level in Odisha, the State has been ranked at 9th among 30 states and UTs. The proportion in Odisha is much higher than the national average

Similarly, with 3.9 per cent adolescents in age-group 10-19 years having high cholesterol in blood serum, Odisha again figured among the top -10 in the country. The State was also among the top-10 states where the adolescents have a high level of bad cholesterol {Low Density Lipoprotiens (LDL)} and low concentration of good cholesterol {High Density Lipoproteins (HDL)}.

Such alarming facts on high prevalence of the risk factors that trigger heart disease in Odisha at a very young age were revealed recently by the first and largest ever Comprehensive National Nutrition Survey (CNNS) 2016-18.

This revelation is a sort of health exigency for Odisha. Because, the recently released report 'Medically Certified Cause of Death (MCCD)' by the Registrar General of India (RGI) flags the acuteness of heart-related ailments in the State. The report disclosed that Odisha had recorded a whopping  8,546 deaths annually, at a rate of at least 23 deaths every 24 hours.  And two in every ten deaths were due to cardiac-related  ailments.

The prevalence of adult disease conditions among children and adolescents in the State has been primarily attributed to unhealthy diet, tobacco use and sedentary lifestyle.

Consider this. Obesity is a factor behind conditions like hypertension,  rise in low LDL, cholesterol and triglycerides. As per NFHS data, obesity in Odisha has grown significantly in the decade of 2005-06 to 2015-16.

The obesity prevalence in the State population was below 10 per cent in 2005-06, but had risen to around 20 percent in 2015-16.

And the major factor for the obesity taking roots fast in Odisha is the change in food habits like replacement of traditional cereal diets with instant noodles and fast food in all meals through the day . And intake of higher amount of transfats in foods also contributes to this.