Hyderabad: Death and disability in adolescents in India is more due to non-communicable diseases and injuries rather than communicable diseases, according to a data analytical study from the Global Burden of Disease.
Self-harm, road traffic injuries, fire or heat related injuries and mental disorders have been listed as the primary reasons for adolescents’ deaths or disabilities.
The disability-adjusted life year (DALY) is a measure of overall disease burden, expressed as the number of years lost due to ill-health, disability or early death. In India, DALY has been found to be alarmingly high in adolescents, with 95 per cent lost due to self-harm.
Researcher Rohina Joshi said communicable diseases like still rated as high as 50 per cent in adolescents but non-communicable diseases and injuries were claiming lives faster. “Data shows that adolescents indulge unhealthy activities and food consumption which leads to early onset of non-communicable diseases. Heart and chronic lung diseases for instance are an increasing concern,” she said.
The data from 1990 to 2013 was analysed and the results showed that adolescents suffered from low self-esteem; they had very high expectations but when these expectations were not realised, they dipped into severe depression. They also became careless, with road accidents becoming a direct spin-off from this. Injuries suffered from road accidents often led them to be disabled for life.
Dr Pallab K. Maulik, another researcher, explained, “The focus has to shift on to the evidence based strategies to reduce the growing burden of non-communicable diseases. It is important as many lives are being lost due to injuries or mental disorders.”
