Cardiometabolic Diseases: A Global Perspective

Abstract

The George Institute for Global Health of Australia, in their website claim that the epidemic of cardio-metabolic diseases is escalating worldwide, including India. The rapid socioeconomic transition is believed to have contributed to this rise, with the individuals being increasingly exposed to energy-dense foods, high stress levels, and sedentary work habits. Larry Husten in an article in Lancet wrote, that in 1960, the typical heart-attack“victim” was a middle-class US or European executive. Cardiovascular Disease (CVD) was largely unknown in the developing world, but now, a global epidemic of CVD is underway. In the 21st century, say epidemiologists, a typical patient presenting with heart attack will be a Moscow Taxi driver, or a Bombay factory worker [1]. Underlying causes may or may not be the same at each demography. For instance, another article written in the same year, drew the attention of this prediction. Larry Husten contemplated on the enormous rise in deaths from heart disease in Russia. The author of this article points out to the fact, that to a large extent, the pattern of alcohol consumption may play a big role in the cardiovascular deaths in Russia [2]. Since 1980, incidence of obesity has increased by two-fold and diabetes by four-fold worldwide, according to the NCD Risk Factor Collaborators report [3,4]. Hypertension is one of the primary risk factors for heart disease and stroke. Over 875 million were hypertensives in the year 2000 and will double by the year 2025 [5]. Another factor to be considered when discussing from a global perspective, is that nearly two-thirds of individuals with CMDs live in lowand middle-income countries. On the other hand, immigrant population is increasing rapidly in several countries, because of the economic attractiveness and public infrastructure. Just look at the UAE as an example, they have more immigrants than the native Arabs. Although conventional cardiovascular risk factors such as smoking, blood pressure and total cholesterol predict risk within these ethnic groups, they do not fully account for the differences in risk, between ethnic groups, suggesting that alternative explanations might exist. We feel strongly, that there is a great need to investigate the prevalence and pattern of metabolic risks in general, identify the unique risk factors responsible for development and/or progression of these condition’s and the economic and social costs for the treatment of these diseases. All of these metabolic diseases have risen to the status of an epidemic, and cost of combating these diseases will pose, in the very near future, a great economic burden to the global community.