The Disease Management Association of India (DMAI), a body of healthcare stakeholders in India, is planning to conduct annual surveys of Health Risk Assessment Index (HRAI) in the Indian population, to identify the disease burden of chronic ailments in the country.

The HRAI is claimed to be the first of its kind project in India, to cover a wider population in annual basis and assess the results for prevalence of chronic diseases. The objective of the activity is to get real data to allow designing of policy and health plans specific to Indian conditions.

The Association is currently exploring partnership and funding options to take the project, which is first of its kind survey in the country, to a higher level, said Rajendra Pratap Gupta, president, DMAI.

“There is a clear & wide disparity in the figures given by WHO and the Indian health authorities , which makes it all the more important for DMAI to initiate this survey. How can the government formulate any plan for healthcare without knowing the actual disease burden?,” asked Gupta.

The association is currently seeking partners from the pharmaceutical and healthcare industries or funding agencies to support the project as an annual activity. The association will be ready to share the data with the sponsors as an effort to ensure the information being used successfully for the benefit of general public.

The DMAI has conducted the pilot project of HRAI in 2009, covering 2,048 people from different lifestyles, work profiles based on the age, gender and urban or rural segregation, to identify the prevalence of chronic diseases among the population.

The study found out that the average prevalence of obesity among the population is 44 percent, and diabetes is 20 per cent. Hypertension prevails in 16 per cent of the population even as seven percent of the people suffer from respiratory ailments. The presence of obesity and hypertension in students is also alarmingly higher, as 11 per cent of students suffer from obesity and seven percent from hypertension, according to the study.

“The outcomes, though too early to conclude due to a small sample size, were surprisingly higher than the prevailing estimates of the chronic diseases,” comments Gupta. The study was carried out in a period of four months and with the end of US FDA approved devices.

The key indicators of the study includes the family history, lifestyle, random blood sugar, blood pressure, ECG, total cholesterol, triglycerides, spirometry, pulse oximetry and body compositions. Information collected in a population between the age group of 19 to 78 was evaluated by a team of doctors to ensure quality, added the DMAI official.