Author
Wilson Suraweera
Other affiliations: St. Michael's Hospital
Bio: Wilson Suraweera is an academic researcher from University of Toronto. The author has contributed to research in topics: Mortality rate & Verbal autopsy. The author has an hindex of 19, co-authored 29 publications receiving 2441 citations. Previous affiliations of Wilson Suraweera include St. Michael's Hospital.
Papers
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TL;DR: This work aimed to quantify suicide mortality in India in 2010 by applying the age-specific and sex-specific proportion of suicide deaths in this survey to the 2010 UN estimates of absolute numbers of deaths in India.
780 citations
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TL;DR: Community education, appropriate training of medical staff and better distribution of antivenom, especially to the 13 states with the highest prevalence, could reduce snakebite deaths in India.
Abstract: BACKGROUND: India has long been thought to have more snakebites than any other country. However, inadequate hospital-based reporting has resulted in estimates of total annual snakebite mortality ranging widely from about 1,300 to 50,000. We calculated direct estimates of snakebite mortality from a national mortality survey. METHODS AND FINDINGS: We conducted a nationally representative study of 123,000 deaths from 6,671 randomly selected areas in 2001-03. Full-time, non-medical field workers interviewed living respondents about all deaths. The underlying causes were independently coded by two of 130 trained physicians. Discrepancies were resolved by anonymous reconciliation or, failing that, by adjudication. A total of 562 deaths (0.47% of total deaths) were assigned to snakebites. Snakebite deaths occurred mostly in rural areas (97%), were more common in males (59%) than females (41%), and peaked at ages 15-29 years (25%) and during the monsoon months of June to September. This proportion represents about 45,900 annual snakebite deaths nationally (99% CI 40,900 to 50,900) or an annual age-standardised rate of 4.1/100,000 (99% CI 3.6-4.5), with higher rates in rural areas (5.4/100,000; 99% CI 4.8-6.0), and with the highest state rate in Andhra Pradesh (6.2). Annual snakebite deaths were greatest in the states of Uttar Pradesh (8,700), Andhra Pradesh (5,200), and Bihar (4,500). CONCLUSIONS: Snakebite remains an underestimated cause of accidental death in modern India. Because a large proportion of global totals of snakebites arise from India, global snakebite totals might also be underestimated. Community education, appropriate training of medical staff and better distribution of antivenom, especially to the 13 states with the highest prevalence, could reduce snakebite deaths in India.
464 citations
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TL;DR: Despite uncertainty as to which unattended febrile deaths are from malaria, the lower bound greatly exceeds the WHO estimate of only 15,000 malaria deaths per year in India and should be reconsidered, as should the lowWHO estimate of adult malaria deaths worldwide.
269 citations
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TL;DR: Moderate acceleration of the 2000-10 proportional decreases in mortality could be feasible, achieving the targeted 2030 disease-specific reductions of two-thirds or a third.
238 citations
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TL;DR: It is estimated that India had 1.2 million snakebite deaths from 2000 to 2019, and prevention and treatment strategies might substantially reduce snakebite mortality in India.
Abstract: The World Health Organization call to halve global snakebite deaths by 2030 will require substantial progress in India. We analyzed 2833 snakebite deaths from 611,483 verbal autopsies in the nationally representative Indian Million Death Study from 2001 to 2014, and conducted a systematic literature review from 2000 to 2019 covering 87,590 snakebites. We estimate that India had 1.2 million snakebite deaths (average 58,000/year) from 2000 to 2019. Nearly half occurred at ages 30-69 years and over a quarter in children < 15 years. Most occurred at home in the rural areas. About 70% occurred in eight higher burden states and half during the rainy season and at low altitude. The risk of an Indian dying from snakebite before age 70 is about 1 in 250, but notably higher in some areas. More crudely, we estimate 1.11-1.77 million bites in 2015, of which 70% showed symptoms of envenomation. Prevention and treatment strategies might substantially reduce snakebite mortality in India.
116 citations
Cited by
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Harvard University1, Boston Children's Hospital2, King's College London3, Lund University4, Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary5, University of São Paulo6, University of California, San Diego7, Imperial College London8, Partners In Health9, Brigham and Women's Hospital10, Royal North Shore Hospital11, Medical College of Wisconsin12, Monash University13, Nanyang Technological University14, University of Sierra Leone15, University of Oxford16, Mongolian National University17, Flinders University18, University of Malawi19, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center20, Bhabha Atomic Research Centre21, Royal Australasian College of Surgeons22, Stanford University23, University of California, San Francisco24
TL;DR: The need for surgical services in low- and middleincome countries will continue to rise substantially from now until 2030, with a large projected increase in the incidence of cancer, road traffic injuries, and cardiovascular and metabolic diseases in LMICs.
2,209 citations
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University of Melbourne1, Royal Children's Hospital2, Columbia University3, University of London4, World Health Organization5, American University of Beirut6, University of Oregon7, Public Health Foundation of India8, University College London9, Burnet Institute10, United Nations Population Fund11, University of Toronto12, Aga Khan University13, Obafemi Awolowo University14, Jawaharlal Nehru University15, UNICEF16, Kunming Medical University17
TL;DR: This Commission outlines the opportunities and challenges for investment in adolescent health and wellbeing at both country and global levels (panel 1).
1,976 citations
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TL;DR: The findings suggest that rapid societal and economic transition in many countries means that any reductions in infection-related cancers are offset by an increasing number of new cases that are more associated with reproductive, dietary, and hormonal factors.
Abstract: Summary Background Cancer is set to become a major cause of morbidity and mortality in the coming decades in every region of the world. We aimed to assess the changing patterns of cancer according to varying levels of human development. Methods We used four levels (low, medium, high, and very high) of the Human Development Index (HDI), a composite indicator of life expectancy, education, and gross domestic product per head, to highlight cancer-specific patterns in 2008 (on the basis of GLOBOCAN estimates) and trends 1988–2002 (on the basis of the series in Cancer Incidence in Five Continents), and to produce future burden scenario for 2030 according to projected demographic changes alone and trends-based changes for selected cancer sites. Findings In the highest HDI regions in 2008, cancers of the female breast, lung, colorectum, and prostate accounted for half the overall cancer burden, whereas in medium HDI regions, cancers of the oesophagus, stomach, and liver were also common, and together these seven cancers comprised 62% of the total cancer burden in medium to very high HDI areas. In low HDI regions, cervical cancer was more common than both breast cancer and liver cancer. Nine different cancers were the most commonly diagnosed in men across 184 countries, with cancers of the prostate, lung, and liver being the most common. Breast and cervical cancers were the most common in women. In medium HDI and high HDI settings, decreases in cervical and stomach cancer incidence seem to be offset by increases in the incidence of cancers of the female breast, prostate, and colorectum. If the cancer-specific and sex-specific trends estimated in this study continue, we predict an increase in the incidence of all-cancer cases from 12·7 million new cases in 2008 to 22·2 million by 2030. Interpretation Our findings suggest that rapid societal and economic transition in many countries means that any reductions in infection-related cancers are offset by an increasing number of new cases that are more associated with reproductive, dietary, and hormonal factors. Targeted interventions can lead to a decrease in the projected increases in cancer burden through effective primary prevention strategies, alongside the implementation of vaccination, early detection, and effective treatment programmes. Funding None.
1,792 citations
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TL;DR: The findings show that the malaria mortality burden is larger than previously estimated, especially in adults, and there has been a rapid decrease in malaria mortality in Africa because of the scaling up of control activities supported by international donors.
1,440 citations