Urban Slums
- The enormous burden of cardiovascular disease (CVD) and its risk factors are clearly evident among slum dwellers due to increasing lifespan and rapid acquisition of adverse lifestyles.1
- A high prevalence of obesity, abdominal obesity, dyslipidemia, diabetes, particularly in females, is seen in people living in Indian slums.2
- Prevalence of risk factors like high blood pressure, obesity, diabetes, dyslipidemia, physical inactivity, and unhealthy diet in slum dwellers is intermediate between rural and urban population, the latter having the worst risk factor profile.3, 4
- Smoking is highest in slum dwellers compared to rural and urban men and women.
- Both overnutrition and undernutrition occurs in slums with adolescent girls having a high prevalence of undernutrition.5
Sources
1. Reddy KS. Regional case studies–India. Nestle Nutr Workshop Ser Pediatr Program. 2009;63:15-24; discussion 41-16, 259-268.
2. Misra A, Pandey RM, Devi JR, Sharma R, Vikram NK, Khanna N. High prevalence of diabetes, obesity and dyslipidaemia in urban slum population in northern India. Int J Obes Relat Metab Disord. Nov 2001;25(11):1722-1729.
3. Kar SS, Thakur JS, Virdi NK, Jain S, Kumar R. Risk factors for cardiovascular diseases: is the social gradient reversing in northern India? Natl Med J India. Jul-Aug 2010;23(4):206-209.
4. Shah B, Mathur P. Surveillance of cardiovascular disease risk factors in India: the need & scope. Indian J Med Res. Nov 2010;132(5):634-642.
5. Prashant K, Shaw C. Nutritional status of adolescent girls from an urban slum area in South India. Indian J Pediatr. May 2009;76(5):501-504.