Cardiovascular diseases in rural South Asia: the story of one billion people.

The Global Burden of Disease Study reported that from 1990 to 2019, cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) emerged as a leading cause of disability-adjusted life-years (DALYs) in South Asians of both genders (15.2% of total DALYs in men and 11.9% in women).1 South Asia is largely rural with a population of approximately 1.2 billion people and projected to remain rural through to 2050, with a similar number of people.2 In 2014, the multi-country Prospective Urban Rural Epidemiology (PURE) cohort study found that rural South Asians experienced higher incidence rates for CVD mortality and morbidity (7.2 per 1000 person-years) compared with their urban counterparts (5.6 per 1000 person-years), from myocardial infarction, heart failure and stroke.3 This is despite rural South Asians having a comparatively better CVD risk profile, an INTERHEART risk score of 7.6 compared with 9.1.3 Over the past 30 years (1985–2017), the increase in age-standardised mean body mass index (BMI) in the adult rural population has outpaced urban counterparts.4 It follows that …