'Ailing hearts' big worry for Odisha as 23 die every 24 hours!

Bhubaneswar: Odisha seemingly has a high burden of 'ailing hearts'. The State witnessed nearly a death an hour owing to heart-related ailments. The toll due to cardiovascular diseases in State has been highest over the years.

As per recently released report titled Medically Certified Cause of Death (MCCD) by the Registrar General of India (RGI), cardiovascular-related ailments in the State had recorded a whopping  8,546 deaths annually. The cardiac toll clock shows the State recording at least 23 deaths every 24 hours.  And in every ten deaths, at least two deaths were due to cardiac-related  ailments.

A detailed glance showed when hypertension-led cardiac arrest count at 3,536,  the toll stood higher at 3,922 due to Ischemic Heart diseases and another 2,942 deaths were attributed to other forms of heart ailments like coronary artery disease, myocardial infarction etc.

An analysis of deaths due to cardiovascular diseases for the period 2011-2018 revealed that the toll in 2011 was around 7,000, which rose to around 8,030 in 2015 and touched 8,546 in 2017. And the toll in the year 2018 had crossed the 9,000 mark.

Significantly, this non-communicable disease is not a lifestyle syndrome limited to cities and town in Odisha. The latest data available with the State nodal centre on Non-Communicable Diseases (NCD) revealed a shocker.

As many as ten districts together account for around 80 per cent of the total heart ailment mortality burden in the State. Mayurbhanj topped the chart by accounting for over 25 per cent of the total heart-related deaths in the State last year.

Latest data with the State nodal centre shows Mayurbhanj alone accounting for over 1,000 deaths during April-August this year while nine other districts like Balangir, Nayagarh, Jagatsinghpur, Kendrapada, Jajpur, Kalahandi, Dhenkanal, Puri and Sonepur have recorded deaths in the range of 190 – 365.  Kalahandi and Balangir have together accounted for over 400 deaths during the span of last over five months.

Even, the State Health Department is worried over certain aspects of high 'ailing heart' burden. For instance, the nodal cell on NCD  has commissioned a study to look into the reasons behind the higher prevalence of cardiovascular diseases in certain clusters like Jagatsinghpur – Jajpur and Puri – Nayagarh among others.

The department is also monitoring the hereditary set up and lifestyle pattern in Mayurbhanj district to ascertain the cause behind such a high mortality rate, revealed a top health official.

As per an analysis done by the State health department more salt intake in rural populace in the State is a big factor in growing incidences of cardiovascular disease in the State.

Notably, the WHO has recently outlined some factors behind spurt in cardiovascular diseases in the country, including Odisha. It said high mortalities out of heart-related ailments in India are due to non-screening of people above 30-years age as most are unaware of the enormity of the disease.

The State health department, however, claimed that screening has now been extended to over 20 districts that have very high burden.