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High BP, bad diet leading cause of death worldwide: Study

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Washington/Sydney: Poor dietary habits and high blood pressure have replaced child and maternal malnutrition, unsafe water, sanitation and lack of hand washing as leading risks for death globally, a significant study has revealed.

After looking at 79 risk factors for death in 188 countries between 1990 and 2013, the team from the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME), University of Washington and University of Melbourne found that there has been a profound change in risk factors for death.

“There is great potential to improve health by avoiding certain risks like smoking and poor diet as well as tackling environmental risks like air pollution,” said IHME director Dr Christopher Murray.

A wide range of avoidable risk factors to health – ranging from air pollution to poor diets to unsafe water – account for a growing number of deaths and a significant amount of disease burden.

The new risk factors contributed to almost 31 million deaths worldwide in 2013, up from 25 million deaths in 1990, revealed the 25-year study of global burden of disease data.

“In South and Southeast Asia, household air pollution is a leading risk, and India also grapples with high risks of unsafe water and childhood under-nutrition,” the researchers noted in the paper published in The Lancet.

In much of the Middle East and Latin America, high body mass index is the number-one risk associated with health loss.

“While alcohol is the number-two risk in Russia, smoking is the number-one risk in many high-income countries, including the United Kingdom,” the findings showed.

The most marked differences are found in sub-Saharan Africa, which, unlike other regions, is dominated by a combination of childhood malnutrition, unsafe water and lack of sanitation, unsafe sex, and alcohol use.

Unsafe sex took a huge toll on global health, contributing to 82 percent of HIV/AIDS deaths and 94 percent of HIV/AIDS deaths among 15- to 19-year-olds in 2013.

This has a greater impact on South Africa than any other country as 38 percent of South African deaths were attributed to unsafe sex.

“The challenge for policymakers will be to use what we know to guide prevention efforts and health policies,” Dr Murray noted.

The top risks associated with the deaths of both men and women in Australia are high blood pressure, smoking, high body mass index, and high fasting plasma glucose.

“Many of these risk factors are preventable with lifestyle changes,” added professor Alan Lopez from University of Melbourne.

Corona

Covid toll in Karnataka is a worrying sign for state government

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Even though Karnataka recorded the lowest number of Covid deaths in April since the virus struck first in 2020, the state is recording a rise in the positivity rate (1.50 per cent). Five people died from the Covid infections in April as per the statistics released by the state health department. In March, the positivity rate stood around 0.53 per cent. In the first week of April it came down to 0.38 per cent, second week registered 0.56 per cent, third week it rose to 0.79 per cent and by end of April the Covid positivity rate touched 1.19 per cent.

on an average 500 persons used to succumb everyday in the peak of Covid infection, as per the data. Health experts said that the mutated Coronavirus is losing its fierce characteristics as vaccination, better treatment facilities and awareness among the people have contributed to the lesser number of Covid deaths.

During the 4th and 6th of April two deaths were reported in Bengaluru, one in Gadag district on April 8, two deaths were reported from Belagavi and Vijayapura on April 30. The first Covid case was reported in the state in March 2020 and three Covid deaths were recorded in the month. In the following month 21 people became victims to the deadly virus, and May 2020 recorded 22 deaths. The death toll recorded everyday after May crossed three digits. However, the third wave, which started in January 2

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