Heart diseases, stroke leading killers in India: Govt data

Heart diseases such as blocked artery, pulmonary hypertension and stroke are the leading killers in India, shows government data released on Thursday, highlighting the growing epidemic of non-communicable diseases.

The registrar general of India released the medical certification of cause of death report, 2014, which is based on the cause of death certificate issued by the medical practitioner who has attended to the deceased.

According to the report, 31.6% people died of diseases of the circulatory system that include heart diseases and stroke, which saw a jump of nearly 3% since the last report came out in 2015.

More than 13% deaths were attributed to abnormal clinical findings not classified elsewhere; infections and parasitic diseases that include tuberculosis and septicaemia killed 11.9%, followed by diseases of the respiratory system (7.8%) among others.

Deaths due to cancer are also on the rise, with 5.4% people succumbing to it. Cancer of the digestive organs accounts for 24.9% of all deaths. The report also says that every tenth reported medically certified death in India has been of infants (age less than 1 year).

Reliable, cause-specific mortality statistics are required on a regular basis by administrators, policy planners, researchers and other professionals for evidence-based decision making with regard to resource allocation, monitoring of indicators, identifying the priorities for programmes and other related activities in the area of public health.

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