Apollo annual report bats for preventive health

• States preventive health should be national priority
• Report finds an increase in prevalence of early risk factors like Obesity and Dyslipidemia by 50% and 18% respectively between 2019 and 2022

IndiGlobal Bureau

Apollo Hospitals Group has released its annual Health of the Nation report that deep dives into the prevalence and growth of NCDs and highlights the importance of the right preventive healthcare measures to ensure India stays healthy.

The silent epidemic of NCDs is behind 40% of all hospital stays. While there is an increase in Indians taking preventive screenings, these are still largely symptom led. Regular and comprehensive health checks, starting at a young age, can significantly reduce mortality rates, disease incidence as well as the frequency of hospital visits through our lifespan.

The rise in preventive screenings has also led to an increase in the diagnosis of early risk factors like Obesity and Dyslipidemia (cholesterol irregularities) among Indians across age groups. These are indication of the potential onset of chronic conditions like diabetes and hypertension and a wake-up call for individuals to make early shifts in their lifestyle behaviors.

Dr Prathap Reddy, Chairman, Apollo Hospitals Group, stated that “Preventive healthcare needs to become a national priority. Over the past 3 decades, non-communicable diseases have become the leading cause of death and suffering, contributing to 65% of deaths in India. NCDs affect not just health, but also productivity and economic growth. The estimated economic burden on India is expected be about $4.8 trillion by 2030. As the youngest and fastest growing major economy in the world, the health of our nation is a critical indicator of our future, and the health of our people will determine how effectively we live up to our full potential. What we need is a proactive and highly defined strategy to minimize the impact of NCDs. And the best solution lies in prevention.”

‘ProHealth’ program by Apollo

In a bid to strengthen the preventive healthcare ecosystem, Apollo has launched an enhanced ProHealth, India’s most individualized preventive health program that brings together the power of AI to help individuals stay ahead of potential NCDs. Apollo ProHealth is backed by a predictive algorithm that captures one’s health status, predicts potential health risks and individualizes every health check. A personal health risk assessment is digitally available to every individual, post which they can visit the nearest Apollo facility to them to conduct the set of customized tests recommended for them.

Some key findings of the Apollo Health report:

• There is a 50% increase in the prevalence of Obesity among Indians between 2019 and 2022.
• Dyslipidemia or Cholesterol irregularities has seen an 18% increase in prevalence among Indians between 2019 and 2022

Along with these early risk factors, we also see a rise in the prevalence of conditions like Diabetes and Hypertension.

Diabetes and Hypertension diagnosis have seen an 8% and 11% increase respectively between 2019-22

• There is also an increasing risk of Hypertension amongst Indians over 45 years, its prevalence in diagnosis having increased from 14% to 16% in the last 3 years.
• Chronic stress and anxiety increase the risk of incidence of hypertension by 1.5 times and diabetes by up to 2 times. Men with chronic stress have double the risk of incidence of diabetes than women.
• The report also puts the spotlight on the importance of getting more frequent or extended health tests for conditions that are prevalent in our families

The report finds that Diabetes is prevalent in 1 in 3 people with a history of the condition in their family. Healthy sleep is an important indicator of overall health.

• In one study with 20,000 people, 47% have sleep problems and 52% have impairments in their mind health state, and 1 in 3 have both issues.
• 2 out of 3 individuals do not have an optimal gap between dinner and bedtime, which is critical for good quality sleep. It is less than 1 hour or more than 2 hours, both scenarios leading to sub optimal sleep quality.
• Impaired metabolism is also closely linked with digestive irregularities, such as gas/bloating, heaviness post-meal, burning sensation, and belch/burp. The analysis found that 64% of people had digestive irregularities, going up to 81% amongst diabetics.

Diversity in lifestyle has led to the emergence of different NCD trends across regions, likely impacted by our regional diet preferences.

• While liver diseases saw maximum prevalence in East (at 50%), its lowest impact relatively is in the South (28%)
• West has seen the least relatively the lowest prevalence of diabetes (15%) while South has the highest (27%)
• Obesity trends have been similar across regions, ranging between 22-24%
• Dyslipidemia (cholesterol) has the highest prevalence across all regions, with North seeing the most (48%), followed by West (41%), East (39%) and then South (37%).

Undetected sleep disorders often lead to chronic health conditions due to late diagnosis and oversight by the healthcare systems

• Obstructive Sleep Apnea (OSA) is known to increase the risk of heart problems, and is often screened only in the obese (BMI > 30) and with neck circumference > 40cm
• Apollo’s study of people with Type 2 suggests that intermediate to high risk of OSA occurs even at a lower BMI (26) in the population screened, with a majority (91%) having a neck circumference < 40cm, thus highlighting the need to screen for OSA rigorously, irrespective of the BMI, especially for high-risk cohorts like patients with Diabetes.