Besides Covid-19, diabetes and renal disease reduce Indian lifespan

Covid-19 was the leading cause of death in India, as per the study. The age-standardised rate of deaths for both males and females was 156.8 per 100,000 population

Diabetes and kidney diseases were among the leading causes for life expectancy to drop, other than Covid-19 in recent times.

India’s life expectancy was 60.8 years in 1990. It improved to 64.2 years in 2000, 67.7 years in 2010 and 70.5 years in 2019. However, it declined to 68.7 years in 2021, primarily due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Diabetes and kidney diseases led to a decline of 0.1 years, followed by heart disease at 0.05 years and HIV/AIDS 0.02 years.

Between 1990 and 2021, India lost 1.9 years and 0.75 years due to Covid-19 and other pandemic-related ailments, respectively, according to the Global Burden of Disease Study 2021. It estimated mortality and years of life lost from 288 causes of death in 204 countries and territories from 1990 until 2021 published in the Lancet on Wednesday.

India gained 3.2 years due to reduced mortality from enteric or intestinal infections and also saw gains due to better management of other diseases and disorders (charts 1,2).

 

Globally, “the effect of COVID-19 on age-standardised mortality was similar to that of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease in 2020 but increased… in 2021, becoming similar to that of stroke and ischaemic heart disease,” the study mentioned.

Covid-19 was the leading cause of death in India, as per the study. The age-standardised rate of deaths for both males and females was 156.8 per 100,000.

The mortality rate of ischemic heart disease was 151.1 per 100,000 in 2021. It was 137.8 in 1990.

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease was next at 108.3 in 2021, followed by other Covid-19 pandemic-related outcomes (61.2), diarrheal diseases (52), and lower respiratory infections (41.2).

For males, the mortality rate was the highest due to Covid-19 at 213.36 per 100,000 in 2021. It was ischemic heart disease at 110.75 for women in the same year.

Indians today live longer than they did in 1990.

Life expectancy increased by 7.9 years for the country than 6.2 years globally between 1990 and 2021.

Compared to the South Asian region and the top five economies (based on the gross domestic product), India’s improvement in life expectancy is better.

Bhutan was leading with an improvement of 13.6 years, followed by Bangladesh at 13.3 years, Nepal 10.4 years and China 9.9 years.

India was at fifth spot among the 12 countries.

Life expectancy in the United States changed by 1.5 years between 1990 and 2021. South Africa recorded a decline of 3.6 years (chart 3).

 

“Southeast Asia, east Asia, and Oceania showed the highest gain, with a net improvement of 8·3 years,” as per the study.

South Asia was next in regards to the gains “largely attributed to reduced mortality from enteric infectious diseases”.