Latest news with #LancetRegionalHealthSoutheastAsia
Indian Express
4 days ago
- Health
- Indian Express
This dementia risk factor is modifiable: Lancet study in Karnataka flags household air pollution
Users of polluting cooking fuels like charcoal, kerosene, crop residue, wood or dung cake and those preparing food over an open fire pit may be at a higher risk of cognitive impairment (a decline in memory, thinking and reasoning ability) like dementia, according to a new analysis. Published in the Lancet Regional Health Southeast Asia, the analysis was based on data from rural Karnataka. The participants were part of the ongoing prospective cohort study, Centre for Brain Research-Srinivaspura Aging, Neuro Senescence, and COGnition (CBR-SANSCOG). Researchers from the Centre for Brain Research, Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru, which funded the study, told The Indian Express that the aim was to investigate the relationship between household air pollution (HAP), cognitive functions (thinking, reasoning, memory-building, language, perception and decision-making) and brain structure. They found that the group that used polluting cooking fuels had poorer cognitive functions than those using clean cooking fuels. With recent statistical data showing that 57% of rural households still use polluting cooking fuels, changing fuels could lower risk in the rural Indian population (which has been found to have a significantly higher prevalence of dementia than the urban Indian population). This is a specific type of indoor air pollution, which primarily results from the use of polluting cooking technology — coal stoves, biomass stoves, earthen stoves and polluting fuels such as firewood, cow dung cake, coal, lignite or charcoal and kerosene. All of these produce gaseous toxins. As of 2020, according to the WHO, 3.2 million premature deaths occurred worldwide from illnesses attributed to HAP. These include ischaemic heart disease, stroke and chronic pulmonary conditions. In India, as of 2019, 0.81 million deaths were attributed to HAP. The 2019–21 National Family Health Survey-5 reported that 41.4 per cent of households in India lacked access to clean cooking fuels. This disparity was more pronounced in rural areas, where 56.8 per cent of households used polluting cooking fuels, compared to 10.3 per cent in urban areas. Participants were classified into three groups – those using only polluting cooking fuels, those using at least one polluting cooking fuel and those using clean cooking fuels. Then their cognitive functions were evaluated. The group that reported using only polluting cooking fuels had the worst cognitive functions, followed by the group using at least one polluting cooking fuel in comparison to those using clean cooking fuels. The study also found that women participants, who are likely to be more exposed than men, could be more vulnerable to damage as evidenced by lower volumes of the hippocampus, a key brain region for learning and memory. This usually leads to dementia.
The Hindu
6 days ago
- Health
- The Hindu
Six deliveries per thousand are stillbirths in India, highest rate in northern states: study
Over six in every one thousand deliveries in India in 2020 could have been a stillbirth, with higher rates among urban mothers compared to rural, according to an analysis of data from national surveys and the civil registration system. Researchers, including those from the All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Gorakhpur, and the Indian Council of Medical Research, New Delhi, also identified that stillbirth hotspots are located primarily in northern and central India. Chandigarh, Jammu and Kashmir, and Rajasthan in north India recorded the highest rates of stillbirth, the findings published inThe Lancet Regional Health Southeast Asia journal show. The team analysed data gathered from the fifth round of the National Family Health Survey (NFHS) and the 2020 report of the civil registration system, which is managed by the Ministry of Home Affairs and records vital events, including births, deaths and stillbirths across India. "The nationwide stillbirth rate (SBR) in 2020 was 6.548 per 1,000 total births (female: 6.54; male: 6.63). Stillbirth rates were higher among urban mothers compared to rural mothers," the authors wrote. A higher rate of stillbirth was also found in districts where pregnant women were anaemic (deficient in iron) and underweight -- factors known to increase risk of adverse birth outcomes, including stillbirth. Hygienic menstrual practices and caesarean (C-section) deliveries -- in which a baby is delivered through a surgical procedure -- were associated with a lower rate of stillbirth, especially in Telangana, Karnataka, and Tamil Nadu. The results were in line with data from NFHS-5, according to which the prevalence of C-section deliveries was about 45 per cent in south India in 2019-2020, the authors said. Evidence from states including Assam, Meghalaya, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh and Chhattisgarh showed that receiving at least four pre-delivery check-ups and adhering to iron and folic acid supplementation during pregnancy can significantly reduce the risk of stillbirth, the team said. Overall, higher rates of stillbirths were found in regions where pregnant women were anaemic, more deliveries were occurring in public health facilities and a larger fraction of women were having a lower wealth status, they said. However, there were no disparities in sex-specific rates of stillbirth across the country's districts, even though a higher rate of stillbirths seen among male foetuses may point to a higher biological vulnerability, the researchers said.
