Abstract
Non-communicable diseases (NCDs) lead to substantial mortality and morbidity worldwide. The most common NCDs are cardiovascular diseases (CVD), diabetes, cancer and chronic respiratory diseases. With the rapid increase in NCD-related deaths in Asia Pacific countries, NCDs are now the major cause of deaths and disease burden in the region. NCDs hamper achievement of the Millennium Development Goals (MDG). People in the low socio-economic group are most affected by NCDs as they have poor access to policies, legislations, regulations and healthcare services meant to combat NCDs. This results in loss of productivity by a decreasing labor force with implications at the macroeconomic level. The 3 major NCDs in the Asia Pacific region are CVDs, cancer and diabetes due to the increasing loss of disability adjusted life years (DALYs). The 4 major behavioral risk factors for NCDs are: tobacco use, alcohol consumption, inadequate physical activity and unhealthy diet. The underlying risk factors are urbanization, globalization, sedentary lifestyle, obesity and hypertension. Strategies to combat NCDs in the Asia Pacific region are as follows: population-based dietary salt reduction, health education, psychological interventions, i.e., cognitive behavioral therapy and motivational-interviewing, taxation and bans on tobacco-related advertisements, implementing smoke-free zones and surveillance by the World Health Organization. Control measures must focus on prevention and strengthening inter-sectorial collaboration.
Article PDF
Similar content being viewed by others
Avoid common mistakes on your manuscript.
References
World Health Organization. Action plan for the prevention and control of noncommunicable diseases in South-East Asia, 2013–2020. New Delhi: World Health Organization Regional Office for South-East Asia; 2013.
World Health Organization. Noncommunicable diseases in the Western Pacific Region. Manila: World Health Organization Office of the Western Pacific Region; 2012.
World Health Organization. Noncommunicable diseases in the South-East Asia Region: Situation and response 2011. New Delhi: World Health Organization Regional Office for South-East Asia; 2011.
Beaglehole R, Bonita R, Horton R, Adams C, Alleyne G, Asaria P, et al. Priority actions for the non-communicable disease crisis. Lancet. 2011;377:1438–1447, http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(11)60393-0.
Hunter DJ, Reddy KS. Noncommunicable diseases. N Engl J Med. 2013;369(14):1336–1343, http://dx.doi.org/10.1056/NEJMra1109345.
World Health Organization. Priority noncommunicable diseases and conditions. World Health Organization Office for Western Pacific Region; 2008 [cited 2014 Feb 28]. Available from: http://www.wpro.who.int/health_research/documents/dhs_hr_health_in_asia_and_the_pacific_13_chapter_8_priority_noncommunicable_diseases_and_disorders.pdf.
International Diabetes Federation. Diabetes Atlas. 3rd ed. Brussels: IDF; 2006.
Ling T, Bao CX, Yun CH. The control of fasting plasma glucose and HbA1c multifactor analysis for medical cost in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus. Chin J Diabet. 2004;3:205–208.
Chuang L-M, Tsai ST, Huang BY, Tai TY. The status of diabetes control in Asia — A cross-sectional survey of 24 317 patients with diabetes mellitus in 1998. Diabet Med. 2002;19(12): 978–985, http://dx.doi.org/10.1046/j.1464-5491.2002.00833.x.
Parkin DM, Bray F, Ferlay J, Pisani P. Global cancer statistics, 2002. CA Cancer J Clin. 2005;55(2):74–108, http://dx.doi.org/10.3322/canjclin.55.2.74.
World Health Organization. Global health observatory data repository. WHO; 2013 [cited 2014 Mar 28]. Available from: http://apps.who.int/gho/data/node.main.A865?lang=en.
World Health Organization. Global status report on non-communicable diseases 2010. Geneva: WHO; 2011.
World Health Organization. Preventing chronic diseases: A vital investment. WHO global report. 2005. Geneva: WHO; 2005.
Zuo H, Shi Z, Hussain A. Prevalence, trends and risk factors for the diabetes epidemic in China: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Diabetes Res Clin Pract. 2014;104(1):63–72, http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.diabres.2014.01.002.
Anderson I. Tobacco as a development issue: Latest estimates from WHO. 2012 [cited 2014 Apr 5]. Available from: http://devpolicy.org/tobacco-as-a-development-issue-latest-estimates-from-who20120430.
World Health Organization. Global health risk: Mortality and burden of disease attributable to selected major risks. Geneva: WHO; 2009.
Otani T, Iwasaki M, Yamamoto S, Sobue T, Hanaoka T, Inoue M, et al. Alcohol consumption, smoking, and subsequent risk of colorectal cancer in middle-aged and elderly Japanese men and women Japan public health center-based prospective study. Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev. 2003;12(12):1492–1500.
World Health Organization. Global recommendation on physical activity for health. Geneva: WHO; 2010.
Ng N, Hakimi M, van Minh H, Juvekar S, Razzaque A, Ashraf A, et al. Prevalence of physical inactivity in nine rural INDEPTH health and demographic surveillance systems in five Asian countries. Glob Health Action. 2009;2:44–53.
Shetty P. Nutrition transition and its health outcomes. Indian J Pediatr. 2013;80(1):21–27, http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s12098-013-0971-5.
Moore MA. Diverse influences of dietary factors on cancer in Asia. Asian Pac J Cancer Prev. 2009;10(6):981–986.
Haby MM, Markwick A, Peeters A, Shaw J, Vos T. Future predictions of body mass index and overweight prevalence in Australia, 2005–2025. Health Promot Int. 2012;27(2): 250–260, http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/heapro/dar036.
World Health Organization. Obesity. WHO; 2012 [cited 2014 Mar 20]. Available from: http://www.wpro.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/obesity/en.
Aboobakur M, Latheef A, Mohamed AJ, Moosa S, Pandey RM, Krishnan A, et al. Surveillance for non-communicable disease risk factors in Maldives: Results from the first STEPS survey in Male. Int J Public Health. 2010;55(5): 489–496, http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00038-009-0114-y.
Lawes CM, Hoorn SV, Rodgers A. Global burden of blood-pressure-related disease, 2001. Lancet. 2008;371(9623): 1513–1518, http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(08)60655-8.
Arima H, Murakami Y, Lam TH, Kim HC, Ueshima H, Woo J, et al. Effects of prehypertension and hypertension subtype on cardiovascular disease in the Asia-Pacific Region. Hypertension. 2012;59(6):1118–1123, http://dx.doi.org/10.1161/HYPERTENSIONAHA.111.187252.
Takahashi Y, Sasaki S, Okubo S, Hayashi M, Tsugane S. Blood pressure change in a free-living population-based dietary modification study in Japan. J Hypertens. 2006;24(3):451–458, http://dx.doi.org/10.1097/01.hjh.0000209980.36359.16.
Feigin VL, Krishnamurthi R. Stroke prevention in the developing world. Stroke. 2011;42(12):3655–3658, http://dx.doi. org/10.1161/STROKEAHA.110.596858.
Shah P, Misra A, Gupta N, Hazra DK, Gupta R, Seth P, et al. Improvement in nutrition-related knowledge and behaviour of urban Asian Indian school children: Findings from the ‘Medical education for children/Adolescents for Realistic prevention of obesity and diabetes and for healthy aGeing’ (MARG) intervention study. Br J Nutr. 2010;104(03):427–436, http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/S0007114510000681.
Eriksen M, Mackay J, Ross H. The Tobacco Atlas. Atlanta, GA: World Lung Foundation; 2012.
World Health Organization. WHO report on the global tobacco epidemic, 2013: Enforcing bans on tobacco advertising, promotion and sponsorship. Geneva: WHO; 2013.
Xu Y, Wu Q, Xu S, Xu J, Wan X, Guo Y. Environmental secondhand smoke exposure and policy assessment at five venues in Zhejiang Province, China. Asia Pac J Public Health. 2013;25(1):1–9.
Abidin EZ, Hashim Z, Semple S. Secondhand smoke in public spaces: How effective has partial smoke-free legislation been in Malaysia? Asian Pac J Cancer Prev. 2013;14(11): 6845–6850, http://dx.doi.org/10.7314/APJCP.2013.14.11.6845.
Lim SH, Tai BC, Yuan J-M, Mimi CY, Koh W-P. Smoking cessation and mortality among middle-aged and elderly Chinese in Singapore: The Singapore Chinese health study. Tob Control. 2013;22(4):235–2340, http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/tobaccocontrol-2011-050106.
World Health Organization. Noncommunicable disease surveillance. Geneva: WHO; 2014 [cited 2014 Apr 1]. Available from: http://www.who.int/ncd_surveillance/en.
World Health Organization. STEPwise approach to chronic disease risk factor surveillance (STEPS). Geneva: WHO; 2014 [cited 2014 Mar 20]. Available from: http://www.who.int/chp/steps/riskfactor/en.
World Health Organization. The STEPS instrument and support materials. Geneva: WHO; 2014 [cited 2014 Mar 6]. Available from: http://www.who.int/chp/steps/instrument/en.
World Health Organization. STEPwise approach to surveillance (STEPS). Geneva: WHO; 2014 [cited 2014 Mar 12]. Available from: http://www.who.int/chp/steps/en.
World Health Organization. Intersectoral action on health: A path for policy-makers to implement effective and sustainable intersectoral action on health. First global ministerial conference on healthy lifestyles and noncommunicable disease control. Moscow: WHO; 2011.
World Health Organization. Strategy for the prevention and control of noncommunicable diseases. 28th Pan American Sanitary Conference; 2012 Sep 17–21; Washington, D.C., United States of America. Pan American Health Organization: WHO; 2012.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
About this article
Cite this article
Low, WY., Lee, YK. & Samy, A.L. Non-communicable diseases in the Asia-Pacific region: Prevalence, risk factors and community-based prevention. IJOMEH (2014). https://doi.org/10.2478/s13382-014-0326-0
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/s13382-014-0326-0