It seems a heart-breaking reality for Odisha as around 22 died of heart attack or hypertension in every 24 hours last year. Heart disease/hypertension has emerged as the single most giant killer in Odisha zooming past malaria deaths that now appear a minnow. Consider this. The total mortalities owing to malaria in Odisha last year was around 95. But latest data with the State Health Department reveals that the total deaths due to heart disease/hypertension in April – September 2014 (six month period) has been a whopping 3,944.
Heart ailment related deaths alone now account for little less than one-third of total deaths the State has recorded last year. As many as ten districts together account for around 80 per cent the total heart ailment mortality burden in State. Mayurbhanj tops the chart by accounting for over 25 per cent of the total heart-related deaths in the State last year. While Mayubhanj alone accounted for over 1,000 deaths during April-September 2014, nine other districts like Balangir, Nayagarh, Jagatsinghpur, Kendrapada, Jajpur, Kalahandi, Dhenkanal, Puri and Sonepur have recorded deaths in the range of 190 – 365 respectively. Kalahandi and Balangir have together accounted for over 400 deaths in the six-month period.
This district wise data has alerted the State Health Department to look into the reasons behind the higher prevalence in certain district clusters like Jagatsinghpur – Jajpur and Puri – Nayagrah among others. The department is also monitoring the hereditary set up and lifestyle pattern in Mayurbhanj districts to ascertain the cause behind such a high mortality rate. As per the WHO, hereditary set-ups do play a major role in making a population vulnerable to heart ailments.
However, besides tobacco, the Health Department is zeroing in on food habits of people as recently it decided to launch a massive awareness campaign to dissuade the high salt consumption among people in the State. “We would be laying more emphasis on dietary habits and lifestyles to curb the growing heart-related ailments in the State,” said State Nodal Officer, National Programme for Prevention and Control of Cancer, Diabetes, Cardiovascular diseases and Stroke (NPCDCS) Dr PKB Patnaik.
According to World Health Organisation, 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. Patnaik added that under NPCDCS, the Government is going for universal screening of people above 30 years of age in the 15 NPCDCS districts, though there is a plan to cover all the districts by 2015 end.
However, the WHO has also indicated that stressful living conditions and poverty could cause hypertension that would make one vulnerable to heart attacks. Incidentally, most of the districts in State that record higher heart ailment burden figure in the bottom ten of prosperity index.