Hypertension and obesity were the top two most prevalent risk factors in Bangladesh, Bhutan, Myanmar, Nepal and Cambodia, reveals the latest Lancet study

Insufficient consumption of fruits and vegetables and a lack of enough physical activity are two of the most common behavioural risk factors that have pushed many South East Asian and South Asian countries, including India, Nepal and Pakistan towards early stages of cardiovascular diseases (CVD) epidemics.

Hypertension and central obesity are the top two most prevalent risk factors in Bangladesh, Bhutan, Myanmar, Nepal, and Cambodia, reveals the latest Lancet study.

In Vietnam and Pakistan, hypertension and total cholesterol are the two most widespread risk factors. In Timor-Leste, hypertension and diabetes are the risk factors. Similarly, total cholesterol, and obesity are the risk factors in the Lao People’s Democratic Republic.

“We found that more than ten percent of adults had three or more metabolic risk factors, and more than twenty percent of adults had three or more behavioural risk factors,” says the study about the metabolic and behavioural risk factors for cardiovascular diseases among the adult population in South and Southeast Asia.

“We found that being overweight, obesity and central obesity were the most common metabolic risk factors in South and Southeast Asian countries,” the study adds. “Conversely, the risk of three or more metabolic risk factors was higher among women whilst the prevalence of behavioural risk factors was higher among men.”

Asia is the most populous continent, accounting for close to 60 percent of the world population, with more than 655 million, around 8.5 percent of the world’s population, residing in South and Southeast Asia. Due to the large population along with the diversity of ethnicities, cultures, socioeconomic status, diversity of food and health care systems, the regions face many challenges in cardiovascular prevention.

This is similar to what other studies have found around the world.

“This means that many of South and Southeast Asian countries face a challenge of a double burden of CVD and deaths due to communicable, maternal, neonatal, and nutritional diseases (CMNND),” the Lancet says. “In our study, we found that in all countries, physical inactivity prevalence was greater than seventy percent.”

The study also finds that the prevalence of smoking was more than ten percent in all South and Southeast Asian countries except Bhutan.

A recent Global Burden of Disease (GBD) study by the 2019 Tobacco Collaborators has reported that Ischaemic heart disease was the leading cause of death attributable to tobacco use in South and Southeast Asia.