New Delhi: In a shocking revelation, it has come to the fore that the contribution of non-communicable and injury-related neurological disorders to the total disease burden more than doubled in India from 1990 to 2019, whereas that of communicable neurological disorders reduced by three quarters.
According to the findings of the India State-Level Disease Burden Initiative, which is conducted by Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), the burden of non-communicable neurological disorders is increasing in India mainly due to the ageing of the population, while communicable diseases contributed to the majority of total neurological disorders burden in children younger than 5 years, non-communicable neurological disorders were the biggest contributor in all other age groups.
The first comprehensive estimates of disease burden due to neurological disorders and their trends in every state of India from 1990 was published on Wednesday in The Lancet Global Health by the India State-Level Disease Burden Initiative.
Strokes, headache disorders and epilepsy are the leading contributors to neurological disorders burden in India, it said.
In 2019, strokes caused 6,99,000 deaths, which was 7.4 per cent of the total deaths in the country. The burden of many neurological disorders varied considerably between the states, which has significant implications for the policies and programmes to reduce this burden, it stated.
Among the known risk factors for neurological disorders burden, high blood pressure, air pollution, dietary risks, high fasting plasma glucose, and high body mass index are the leading contributors.
The study was done by the India State-Level Disease Burden Initiative, a collaborative effort between the ICMR, Public Health Foundation of India, Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation, and a number of other key stakeholders in India, including academic experts and institutions, government agencies and other organisations, under the aegis of the Ministry of Health.
On the findings, ICMR DG Dr Balram Bhargava said that this research paper provides the first consolidated estimates on the burden of most neurological disorders for every state of India from 1990 to 2019.
"Neurological disorders contribute 10 per cent of the total disease burden in India. There is a growing burden of non-communicable neurological disorders in the country, which is mainly attributable to ageing of the population," he said.