World Heart Day is celebrated on September 29 every year. The day is celebrated to spread awareness about the cardiovascular disease which causes nearly half of all the non-communicable diseases in the world.
In May 2012, world leaders committed themselves to reduce the deaths caused by non-communicable diseases by 25% by 2025. According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), cardiovascular diseases take the lives of 17.9 million people every year, which is 31% of all the global deaths.
Cause of cardiovascular diseases
The primary reasons for these diseases are tobacco use (cigarette, biddi, gutkha), unhealthy diet, no physical activity, and use of alcohol.
Modern day lifestyle has boosted unhealthy lifestyle. Working on the computer for hours, eating junk foods and sleeping late at night are very common phenomena nowadays. Lack of physical activity also adds to an already bad lifestyle.
The coronavirus outbreak has also added to the work pressure that the people already had. All of these conditions lead to a situation where people develop high blood pressure, high blood glucose, overweight and obesity which in turn triggers cardiovascular diseases.
World Health Federation, World Heart Day informs people about the cardiovascular diseases to make them choose a healthy lifestyle.
Cardiovascular disease in India
Cardiovascular disease results in 28.1% of total deaths and 14.1% of total disability adjusted life years (DALY) in India in 2016, according to a Lance report published in 2018. DALY is a measure of overall burden of disease that is expressed in terms of years lost as a result of ill-health, disability, or early death. It compares the overall life expectancy of different countries.
The most common cardiovascular diseases in India are Ischaemic heart disease and stroke, which contribute to 61.4% and 24.9% of total DALYs from cardiovascular diseases, respectively.
