Heart disease has become the top killer in South Asia, and people are likely to suffer heart attacks earlier in life than in the rest of the world, a World Bank report said Wednesday.
It said chronic illnesses such as heart problems, cancer, diabetes and high blood pressure have now replaced infectious diseases as the region's largest health problem.
Life expectancy in the region is currently 64 and is rising, thanks to poverty reduction. But many South Asians will face health challenges in their twilight years because of the cost of chronic disease treatment and the long-term impact of impoverished childhoods when they did not have enough to eat, according to the report on tackling noncommunicable diseases in the region.
"Gestational and childhood under-nutrition rates are very high in South Asia, increasing the susceptibility to heart disease/diabetes at older ages," Dr. Michael Engelgau, co-author of the report, said in an e-mail.
He said it's not entirely understood why South Asians face heart attacks earlier in life — whether genetics or environmental factors play the bigger role. But the World Bank highlighted a separate 2008 study that compared 52 countries worldwide, finding that people in Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka are likely to experience their first heart attack at age 53, versus 59 elsewhere in the world.
Engelgau said part of the problem hinges on differing lifestyles. South Asian diets are typically high in cholesterol and salt and contain fewer vegetables, especially in urban areas. People tend to have higher blood pressure and have become more inactive, resulting in obesity.
Heart disease, the No. 1 killer of South Asians aged 15-69, has long been a problem in developed Western countries where fatty, sugary diets are combined with a lack of exercise. It is the leading killer of both men and women in America, where someone dies roughly every minute from a heart attack, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
"It took almost 200 years for the U.S. and the U.K. to reach this high state of cardiac disease, which we are reaching in 40 or 50 years or so because of the rapid economic transition that's occurring, and all the other changes that are happening within one's life span," said Dorairaj Prabhakaran, director of the Center for Chronic Disease Control, a nonprofit research organization in India.
But South Asia also is home to the world's largest number of poor people, with more than 1 billion — some two-thirds of the population — living on less than $2 a day. And while chronic ailments are now the region's largest health problem, infectious diseases such as tuberculosis and malaria, along with deaths linked to maternal, child and nutrition, remain a dual problem in many countries.
Chronic diseases are more expensive to treat and can drag on for years, which many developing countries with poor health systems are ill-equipped to handle. Patients often pay for treatment out of their own pockets, driving already-poor families into extreme poverty.
The report called on countries in the region — Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka — to step up preventative measures such as promoting anti-tobacco campaigns, lowering salt intake and providing better access to generic medications that lower blood pressure and cholesterol.
It said chronic illnesses such as heart problems, cancer, diabetes and high blood pressure have now replaced infectious diseases as the region's largest health problem.
Life expectancy in the region is currently 64 and is rising, thanks to poverty reduction. But many South Asians will face health challenges in their twilight years because of the cost of chronic disease treatment and the long-term impact of impoverished childhoods when they did not have enough to eat, according to the report on tackling noncommunicable diseases in the region.
"Gestational and childhood under-nutrition rates are very high in South Asia, increasing the susceptibility to heart disease/diabetes at older ages," Dr. Michael Engelgau, co-author of the report, said in an e-mail.
He said it's not entirely understood why South Asians face heart attacks earlier in life — whether genetics or environmental factors play the bigger role. But the World Bank highlighted a separate 2008 study that compared 52 countries worldwide, finding that people in Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka are likely to experience their first heart attack at age 53, versus 59 elsewhere in the world.
Engelgau said part of the problem hinges on differing lifestyles. South Asian diets are typically high in cholesterol and salt and contain fewer vegetables, especially in urban areas. People tend to have higher blood pressure and have become more inactive, resulting in obesity.
Heart disease, the No. 1 killer of South Asians aged 15-69, has long been a problem in developed Western countries where fatty, sugary diets are combined with a lack of exercise. It is the leading killer of both men and women in America, where someone dies roughly every minute from a heart attack, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
"It took almost 200 years for the U.S. and the U.K. to reach this high state of cardiac disease, which we are reaching in 40 or 50 years or so because of the rapid economic transition that's occurring, and all the other changes that are happening within one's life span," said Dorairaj Prabhakaran, director of the Center for Chronic Disease Control, a nonprofit research organization in India.
But South Asia also is home to the world's largest number of poor people, with more than 1 billion — some two-thirds of the population — living on less than $2 a day. And while chronic ailments are now the region's largest health problem, infectious diseases such as tuberculosis and malaria, along with deaths linked to maternal, child and nutrition, remain a dual problem in many countries.
Chronic diseases are more expensive to treat and can drag on for years, which many developing countries with poor health systems are ill-equipped to handle. Patients often pay for treatment out of their own pockets, driving already-poor families into extreme poverty.
The report called on countries in the region — Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka — to step up preventative measures such as promoting anti-tobacco campaigns, lowering salt intake and providing better access to generic medications that lower blood pressure and cholesterol.
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