Adults are expected to live a little longer although heart disease still tops the list of killer diseases, a new study has revealed.
The study by the Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) stated that life expectancy increased in 2018 for the first time in several years, and the rate of heart disease deaths saw a slight dip, though it remains the world top killer disease.
According to the data released Thursday, adults gained 1.2 months, or 36 days, in life expectancy compared to 2017. The modest increase is welcome news given it was the first uptick since 2014. Life expectancy at birth increased from 78.6 years in 2017 to 78.7 in 2018, largely because of decreases in deaths from heart disease, cancer, unintentional injuries and chronic lower respiratory diseases.
WHO latest data published in 2017 Coronary Heart Disease Deaths in Nigeria reached 76,410 or 3.76% of total deaths. The age adjusted death rate is 117.12 per 100,000 of population ranks in Nigeria.
The chair of the department of medicine at Stanford University in California and president of the American Heart Association (AHA), Dr Robert Harrington stated that the news should be celebrated, but there is plenty of room for improvement.
This week, the AHA said its most recent 2020 statistics showed more people are living longer but in poorer health that is striking at a younger age.
To address the problem, the AHA issued a presidential advisory in the journal Circulation outlining new national and global 2030 Impact Goals to help increase the number of healthy years.
Dr Harrington said, the last decade has seen improvements in lifestyle behaviours. For example, people are paying more attention to diet, managing their cholesterol and kicking the cigarette habit.
