How diseases of affluence are going global
Wednesday April 10th, 2013
A British-led study has become the latest to point out that diseases of affluence - such as heart disease and obesity - now afflict much of the world.
The
research led by Imperial College London follows Sunday's World Health
Day, which highlighted Africa has having the world's worst blood pressure
problem.
Writing in Circulation, researchers say middle income countries are now as much afflicted by the epidemic of obesity as the wealthy countries.
The researchers compared health in 1980 and 2008. They found that in 1980 there was a strong link between national income and factors such as blood pressure, cholesterol and weight.
By 2008 the relationship had collapsed. Women in poor countries had worse blood pressure problems and weight problems were greatest in middle income countries.
This is partly because of the success in tackling high blood pressure in wealthy countries.
Researcher Professor Majid Ezzati said: "This study shows that non-communicable diseases are no longer ‘diseases of affluence’. They’ve shifted from being epidemic in rich countries to become a truly international pandemic.
“If current trends continue, developing countries will be confronted with a rising tide of obesity, diabetes and high blood pressure. Meanwhile, developed countries will continue to face an epidemic of diabetes and high cholesterol."
Researcher Dr Goodarz Danaei, from Harvard School of Public Health, USA, said: “We need to replicate that success in developing countries by improving primary health care services, lowering salt intake and making fresh fruit and vegetables more available.
“High cholesterol is still linked to national wealth, probably because of the relatively high cost of meat and other animal products. Lower income countries should encourage the use of unsaturated fats over saturated fats to avoid the problems that richer countries have."
G Danaei et al. The Global Cardiovascular Risk Transition: Associations of Four Metabolic Risk Factors with Macroeconomic Variables in 1980 and 2008. Circulation, 2013; 127: 1493-1502. doi: 10.1161/CIRCULATIONAHA.113.001470 [abstract]
Tags: Africa | Diet & Food | Fitness | Heart Health | UK News | World Health
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