More Indians were diagnosed with hypertension than diabetes in 2017

According to data from the National Health Profile (NHP) 2018, more people were diagnosed with hypertension than diabetes in India in 2017. Of all the patients who visited government clinics, around 10 per cent were diagnosed with hypertension and around 8 per cent were diagnosed with diabetes, it said.

This data confirms a previous study which said that hypertension is a bigger concern than diabetes in India. If left untreated, hypertension can lead to cardiovascular diseases, which is the biggest killer in India.

A JAMA Internal Medicine Study had shown that more people are affected by hypertension than diabetes in India. More so, it said that the prevalence of hypertension among 18-25 years-old was higher than that estimated by the World Health Organization and in fact than any other country in the world.

Since the NHP 2017 did not look assess private clinics, the number of people with hypertension are likely to be underestimated.

States most afflicted by hypertension

Tamil Nadu (TN) had the highest cases of hypertension (962,991) followed by Rajasthan (345,770) and Uttar Pradesh (310,256) from January to December, 2017, the period assessed by NHP.

In TN, the number of patients diagnosed with hypertension was 44 per cent more than the number of patients diagnosed with diabetes (532,863).  

Tamil Nadu led again with the maximum number of people diagnosed with diabetes followed by Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh.

The survey confirms that although India is witnessing a decline in communicable disease, at the same time, there is a significant rise in non-communicable diseases due to many factors such as including urbanisation, change in socio-economic status, diet and physical activity patterns.