15% of deaths in India were due to heart diseases in 1990; now up to 28%
Cardiac ailments killed more Indians in 2016 (28%) than any other non-communicable disease, said a new study published in the September 2018 issue of health journal The Lancet. These are double the numbers reported in 1990 when heart disease caused 15% of deaths in India. Deaths due to cardiovascular diseases in India increased from 1.3 million in 1990 to 2.8 million in 2016, and more than half the deaths caused by heart ailments in 2016 were in persons less than 70 years of age, according to the study, ‘The Changing Patterns of Cardiovascular Diseases and Their Risk Factors in the States of India: the Global burden of Disease Study 1990-2016’. ALSO READ: AI better at predicting heart disease deaths than doctors: Study Ischemic heart disease caused 17.8% of deaths and strokes caused 7.1%, according to the study. Rheumatic heart disease, caused by acute rheumatic fever, now bears a lower disease burden in India: It causes 1.1% of total deaths. But India still contribu