Preventive Health must become a National Priority: Apollo

National, April 2023: Apollo, the world’s largest vertically integrated healthcare provider, has releaseditsannualHealthoftheNationreportthatdeepdivesintotheprevalenceandgrowthof NCDs and highlights the importance of the right preventive healthcare measures to ensure India stays healthy.

Dr.PrathapReddy, the Chairman, ApolloHospitalsGroup, stated that “Preventive health care needs to become a national priority. Over the past 3decades, non-communicable diseases have become the leading cause of death and suffering, contributing to 65% of deaths in India. NCDs affect not just health, but also productivity and economic growth. The estimated economic burden on India is expectedbeabout$4.8trillionby2030. As the youngest and faster growing major economy in the world, the health of our nation is a critical indicator of our future, and the health of our people will determine how effectively we live up to our full potential. What we need is a proactive and highly defined strategy to minimize the impact of NCDs. And the best solution lies in prevention.”

TheincreasingtrendforNCDsandasignificantrisein early risk factors
The rise in preventive screenings has also led to an increase in the diagnosis of early risk factors like Obesity and Dyslipidemia (cholesterol irregularities) among Indians across age groups. These are indications of the potential onset of chronic conditions like diabetes and hypertension and awake-up call for individuals to make early shifts in their lifestyle behaviors.
• Thereisa50%increaseintheprevalenceof Obesity amongIndiansbetween2019and 2022.
o Obesity has seenanuptickindiagnosisinthoselessthan45yearsofageby43%and by 60% in people over the age of 45.
• DyslipidemiaorCholesterol irregularitieshasseenan18%increaseinprevalenceamong Indians between 2019 and 2022
o Thisisalso fuelledbyasignificantincreaseinitsprevalenceamongthoseover45 years of age by more than 35%

Along with these early risk factors, we also seeariseintheprevalenceofconditionslikeDiabetes and Hypertension.

• DiabetesandHypertensiondiagnosishaveseenan8%and11%increaserespectively between 2019-22
o ThereisalsoanincreasingriskofHypertensionamongst Indiansover45years, its prevalence in diagnosis has increased from 14% to 16% in the last 3 years.
o Chronicstressandanxietyincreasetheriskofincidenceofhypertensionby1.5Xand diabetes by up to 2X. Men with chronic stress have double the risk of incidence of diabetes than women.

WeadministeredthePHQ9DepressionQuestionnaireforabout2000 peoplewithType2Diabetes at Apollo Hospitals to understand their Mind Health status. Our analysis showed that with every one unit increase in age and BMI, PHQ9 the depression score also increases. About 50% had some form of depression, and Diabetes along with any weight-related comorbidity is an indicator to screen for depression.

• Thereportalsoputsthespotlightontheimportanceofgettingmorefrequentorextended health tests for conditions that are prevalent in our families
o ThereportfindsthatDiabetesisprevalentin1in3peoplewithahistoryofthe condition in their family.
• Healthysleepisanimportantindicatorofoverallhealth.
o Inonestudywith20,000 people,47%havesleepproblemsand52%have impairments in their mental health state, and 1 in 3 have both issues.
o 2 out of 3 individuals do not have an optimal gap between dinner and bedtime, which is critical for good quality sleep.Itiseitherlessthan1hourormorethan2 hours, both scenarios leading to sub-optimal sleep quality.
• Impairedmetabolismisalsocloselylinkedwithdigestiveirregularities, such as gas/bloating, heaviness post-meal, burning sensation, and belch/burp. The analysis found that 64% of people had digestive irregularities, going up to 81% amongst diabetics.
Many‘Indias’inoneIndia
OurdiversityinlifestylehasledtotheemergenceofdifferentNCDtrendsacrossregions, likely impacted by our regional diet preferences.
• WhileliverdiseasessawmaximumprevalenceinEast(at50%), its lowest impact relatively is in the South (28%)
• Westhasseentheleastrelativelythelowest prevalence of diabetes(15%)whileSouthhas the highest (27%)
• Obesitytrendshavebeensimilaracrossregions,rangingbetween22-24%
• Dyslipidemia(cholesterol) has the highest prevalence across all regions,withNorthseeing the most (48%), followed by the West (41%), East (39%), and the South (37%).

Powerofprevention
The silent epidemic of NCDs is behind 40% of all hospital stays. While there is an increase in Indians taking preventive screenings, these are still largely symptom led. Regular and comprehensive health checks, starting at a young age, can significantly reduce mortality rates, disease incidence as well as the frequency of hospital visits throughout our lifespan.
Thereisalsoaneedto reimagines preventive health assessments and design them to be more suitable for the Indian population.
For instance:
• Themedianageofbreastcancerdiagnosis frommammogramsdoneatApollointhelast year was 54-57 years; lower than that seen in mature markets (where the median age of detection is 62-65 years). This suggests an earlier onset of disease in Indian women, warranting annual screening for women from 40 years onwards.
o Accordingtoclinicallypublishedsources, early diagnosis through preventive checks of breast cancer can reduce mortality rates by up to 30%.
• Undetectedsleepdisorders often lead to chronic health conditions due to late diagnosis and oversight by the healthcare systems
o ObstructiveSleepApnea(OSA)isknowntoincreasetheriskofheartproblems,and isoftenscreenedonlyinthe obese(BMI>30)andwithneckcircumference >40cm

o Apollo’sstudyof peoplewithType2suggeststhatintermediatetohighriskofOSA occurs even at a lower BMI (26) in the population screened, with a majority (91%) having a neck circumference <40cm,thushighlightingtheneedtoscreenforOSA rigorously, irrespective of the BMI, especially for high-risk cohorts like patients with Diabetes.

Enhanced‘ProHealth’ byApollo
In a bid to strengthen the preventive healthcare ecosystem, Apollo has launched an enhanced ProHealth, India’s most individualized preventive health program that brings together the power of AI to help individuals stay ahead of potential NCDs.CombinedwithApollo’spioneeringexperienceof 40 years, the healthcare group has developed new technologies based on AI and ML for predicting risk scores and developing structured lifestyle programs with new models of care that lead to improved clinical outcomes.

WhatdifferentiatesProHealth:
1. ProHealthisa100%doctordesignedhealthprogram
2. Itcreatesafirst-of-its-kind health profile that determines the area so f concerned and custom designs a unique health check for every individual
3. ItintegratespredictivehealthmetricsthroughasophisticatedAIenginetodetermine potential areas of prevention
4. Inadditiontotheresults, every individual also has access to health mentors to transform their lifestyle and make the program truly preventive in every sense

Technology is transforming the approach to dealing with health risks and enabling early detection and therefore must be integrated into preventive screenings. With a firm belief that AI and big data will play a key role in predicting risks and delivering personalised health solutions, Apollo’sProHealth today is India’s most individualized preventive health program. Apollo also strongly believes that a laundry list of tests is not an effective solution to get to the root of the problem. For instance, there is a clear data-driven correlation between diabetes-obstructive sleep apnea-heart problems and ORweight-related comorbidities & depression, however, generic health checks are unable to deduce these. The need of the hour is true personalization and prediction, which forms the foundation of Apollo ProHealth. Additionally, by offering convenient access to health mentors as a part of ProHealth, every individual is empowered to take charge of their own health and create a long-term and permanent impact in the battle over NCDs.

Apollo ProHealth is backed by a predictive algorithm that captures one’s health status, predicts potential health risks, and individualizes every health check. A personal health risk assessment is digitally available to every individual,postwhichtheycanvisitthenearestApollofacilitytothemto conduct the set of customized tests recommended for them.