Stroke killed 7 lakh Indians in 2019: Study

In 2019, brain stroke caused an estimated 6,99,000 deaths — 7.4% of the total deaths — besides nearly 13 lakh cases

Nearly 70 per cent of deaths from neurological disorders in India are caused by stroke, whose prevalence rose sharply in the last three decades, says India's first comprehensive assessment of such disorders.

In 2019, brain stroke caused an estimated 6,99,000 deaths — 7.4 per cent of the total deaths — besides nearly 13 lakh cases. It is the third leading cause of death in India.

While most of the burden caused by stroke was reported from eastern states like West Bengal, Tripura, Chhattisgarh Assam and Odisha, the numbers were quite high for other states too, barring Mizoram and Delhi.

People in the age group of 65-69 suffer the maximum followed by the 60-64 and 70-74 group. But there are many cases even in those aged between 35 and 45 years, who are economically productive. The prevalence rises gradually in the subsequent age groups.

Read | Contribution of neuro NCDs to India's disease burden more than doubled from 1990-2009

“High blood pressure, air pollution, dietary risks, diabetes and obesity are the major risk factors that are on the rise,” Jeyaraj D Pandian, professor at the Christian Medical College, Ludhiana, and one of the members of the study team, told DH. Other risk factors include smoking and kidney dysfunction.

The first-ever nationwide neurological disease burden analysis demonstrated that non-communicable disorders now account for more than 80 per cent of neurological problems replacing communicable ones like encephalitis, meningitis or tetanus. Headache disorder (migraine and tension-type headache) and epilepsy are the two other most common non-communicable neurological disorders.

The disease burden caused by such neurological disorders doubled from 4 per cent in 1990 to 8.2 per cent in 2019. On the other hand, the prevalence of communicable neurological disorders dropped to 1.1 per cent in 2019 from 4.1 per cent three decades ago.

“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 attributable to ageing of the population,” said Balram Bhargava, director general of the Indian Council of Medical Research.

As much as 83 per cent of neurological disorders are non-communicable while 11 per cent are communicable and 6 per cent are brain and spinal cord injuries. Among the non-communicable disorders, stroke comprises close to 38 per cent of the ailments, followed by headache (17.5 per cent), epilepsy (11.3 per cent), cerebral palsy (5.7 per cent), Alzheimer's disease and other types of dementia (4.6 per cent), brain and CNS cancer (2.2 per cent) and Parkinson's disease (1.8 per cent).

“Headache is the commonest neurological disorder affecting one in three Indians, and is often neglected in terms of public health priority. It is the second leading contributor to the disease burden from neurological disorders in India. Migraine affects females more than males, greatly affecting adults in the working age population,” said N Girish Rao, professor at National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences, Bengaluru, and a coauthor of the paper that appeared in the Lancet.

The prevalence of epilepsy increased in the past three decades and dementia is among the fastest growing neurological disorders. "Such findings have important implications for planning to reduce the growing burden of neurological disorders in India," said Lalit Dandona, distinguished professor at the Public Health Foundation of India and a senior author of the study.