Lancet Study: India Could Face Third Highest Economic Burden Of COPD From 2020-50

According to recent research published in The Lancet Global Health journal, India is predicted to have the third biggest economic burden of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) from 2020 to 50, after China and the US.

The third greatest cause of mortality in the world, COPD claimed 3.3 million lives in 2019, with China posting the highest death toll, followed by India and the USA. The study indicated that between 2009 and 2019, the mortality toll from COPD grew globally by 14.1%.

This rise was related to elements including urbanization, air pollution, and cigarette usage. The study estimated the cost of COPD to the global economy at INT$ 4.3 trillion, which is the equivalent of an annual tax of 0.11 percent on the world’s GDP and about half of India’s entire GDP in 2019. It did this by modeling the disease’s economic burden for 204 nations and territories in 2020–50.

The International Dollar, or INT$, is a fictitious currency with the same buying power parity as the US dollar did in the US at a particular time.

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The study also demonstrated how COPD has an uneven economic and health impact across nations and regions. 90 percent of COPD-related deaths were found to occur in low-income and middle-income countries (LMICs), despite these countries accounting for only 83 percent of the global population.

Despite the fact that LMICs only contributed 56.4% of the global economic burden of COPD, the study warned that this percentage is likely to increase as tobacco companies become less subject to regulation in emerging markets, urbanization increases exposure to air pollution, and the epidemiological shift from infectious to non-communicable diseases proceeds.

According to the report, governments and policymakers may not be paying enough attention to this chronic ailment because they are unaware of the financial cost COPD has on the world. It claimed that few health programs, particularly in LMICs, are specifically focused on avoiding COPD, with minimal access to diagnostics and low availability of effective medication.

According to the study, early COPD screening and diagnosis can stop disease development and lessen its negative effects on one’s health and finances. It is necessary to do research on cost-effective treatments, such as community-based COPD screening, since, despite such programs’ positive outcomes and cheap costs, their effectiveness is still understudied in some nations.

According to the research, demonstrating the efficacy of such therapies may eventually lower the morbidity and death rates associated with COPD. The study emphasized the urgent need to fund international initiatives to reduce COPD and the accompanying financial and health consequences.