Women continue to lag men in reaching out to doctors for health issues: Lybrate Healthscape India 2016 report
The young population of India has become wary of diseases cropping up because of unhealthy lifestyle, pushing them to reach out to doctors for help on their prevention and early diagnosis, states Lybrate Healthscape India 2016. The report is the result of the analysis of around 70 million interactions, including booking of lab tests, that happened on Lybrate over a period of 12 months, starting January 1 this year.
As per Lybrate’s annual report, about 45 per cent young people, falling in the age group 20-45 years, actively consult doctors for prevention of diseases that arise out of lifestyle issues, while majority of others reach out to healthcare experts for issues related to either sexual or mental health.
Saurabh Arora, Founder and CEO, Lybrate feels that this awareness will bring about a huge change in the behaviour towards health and greatly reduce the cost burden on households and healthcare delivery in the country.”
The top seven lifestyle issues, the report points out, that hovered greatly on the minds of young Indians which they want to stay away from include diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, cancer and hypertension.
Interactions around diabetes witnessed a staggering growth of 250 per cent over 2015, followed by cardiovascular diseases (210 per cent), cancer (195 per cent), hypertension (190 per cent), obesity (150 per cent), vitamin/ mineral deficiency (150 per cent) and COPD (140 per cent). Majority of the interactions happened around prevention, but there has also been a remarkable rise in interactions on treatment of these diseases from those who are already suffering from them.
Diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, cancer, hypertension and COPD are non-communicable diseases (NCDs) that put extreme burden on Indian households and healthcare delivery systems. NCDs lead to about 40 per cent of all hospital stays and roughly 35 per cent of all recorded outpatient visits in India, according to a 2014 study, Economics of Non-Communicable Diseases in India, bought out by the World Economic Forum and Harvard School of Public Health.
While preventive health has gained prominence among people in Tier-I cities, people from Tier II and III cities too have become conscious about it. However, in Tier II and III cities, the data shows, people are more inclined to discuss issues related to their sexual or mental health. The interactions over stress and depression have remarkably increased from these cities in the last one year, showing the stigma attached to these subjects is fading away even in small towns and cities of the country.
The male, female ratio on touching base with healthcare experts continues to remain skewed across India, stressing on the dire need for more awareness among the female gender. Women, especially from small Tier II and Tier III cities, are still dependent on their male partners to reach out to doctor for their health issues. Efforts need to be made for reversal of the trend to make healthcare delivery cohesive and progressive. The data reflected that overall awareness about sexual and mental health has increased among those in the age bracket 18-24 years across big cities and towns in the country. However, growing interactions around safe sex and dealing with depression from smaller towns press for the need to encourage the behaviour with concrete interventions and policies.
With rise in pollution levels in Delhi and Bengaluru in the month of November, interactions around respiratory issues saw a significant rise, while during dengue and chikungunya outbreak in the period between July and September, Delhi witnessed maximum number of interactions taking place with doctors. In Chennai and Kolkata, women have been more proactive about their health issues compared to any other metropolitan city. Prevention of lifestyle diseases is what made most people from Mumbai and Hyderabad reach out to doctors.