Millions of Lives Could Be Saved by 2% Drop in Chronic Disease Mortality

Thirty-six million lives could be saved globally by 2015 if mortality due to chronic diseases fell by an additional 2% annually, according to one of a series of reports in The Lancet.

In the first report, Dr. Kathleen Strong, from the World Health Organization in Geneva, Switzerland, and colleagues estimate the number of lives that could be saved by preventing chronic diseases, such as diabetes, cancer, stroke and heart disease.

Reducing chronic disease death rates by an additional 2% annually would also result in a gain of about 500 million years of life from 2006 to 2015, the authors point out. Most of the life years gained would involve residents of low- and middle-income countries. Nearly half of this benefit will be experienced by people younger than 70 years of age.

In the second report, researchers led by the WHO’s Dr. JoAnne E. Epping-Jordan describe a stepwise plan of action for combating chronic diseases globally.

The first three planning steps involve estimating the population need and advocating for action; formulating and adopting policy; and identifying implementation steps. The core, expanded, and desirable implementation steps come next, which focus on interventions that are feasible now, in the medium term, or in the long term, respectively.
In the third report, Dr. K. Srinath Reddy, from the All India Institute of Medical Sciences in New Delhi, and colleagues focus on the burden of chronic diseases in India and efforts to respond the problem.

The authors note that at present, chronic diseases account for about 53% of deaths in India and 44% of disability-adjusted life-years lost. They cite tobacco-related diseases as being a major problem and also note that hypertension and dyslipidemia are common conditions that are poorly detected and treated. Lastly, the authors forecast a sharp increase in the chronic disease burden over the next 20 years.

In addition to a cancer control program implemented in 1975 and a recently enacted tobacco control law, the authors note that a national program is currently being developed to prevent and control cardiovascular diseases and diabetes.
In the fourth and final report, Dr. Robert Burton, from the WHO in Beijing, and colleagues discuss prevention of chronic disease in China. The authors note that currently chronic diseases account for about 80% of deaths in China and 70% of disability-adjusted life-years lost.

Roughly 160 million adults have hypertension, yet most are not receiving treatment. In addition, over 300 million men in China smoke cigarettes and 20% of children are overweight or obese. As in India, a national program is currently in the works focusing on the prevention and control of chronic diseases.

There is some evidence that progress is being made, the authors note. For example, smoking rates in men have been falling by about 1% annually for the last decade.

October 5th, 2005 online issue of The Lancet

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