Population aging, each person has 10 years of living with illness

The most common disease in the elderly today is cardiovascular disease, including blood pressure, atherosclerosis, coronary artery disease, cerebral artery disease, and peripheral artery disease.

Elderly people go to see a doctor at a hospital - Photo: THU HIEN

Vietnam has officially entered the population aging stage since 2011 and is expected to become a country with an aging population by 2036. The burden of non-communicable diseases is a major challenge in Vietnam during the population aging stage.

According to the Ministry of Health, the average Vietnamese person spends up to 10 years living with illness.

Nearly 60% of elderly people in Ho Chi Minh City have high blood pressure.

According to Mr. Pham Chanh Trung - Head of the Department of Population and Family Planning of Ho Chi Minh City, in 2023, the number of elderly people (over 60 years old) will account for 12.24%.

The average life expectancy of the city's residents is 76.5 years, higher than the national average of 74.5 years. However, the important thing is that the average life expectancy and healthy life expectancy are very different, meaning that although the elderly live long lives, they still have to face and live with diseases.

According to the latest data from the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Health, as of September 2024, about 233,000 elderly people received health check-ups. The examination data shows that up to 57.6% of the elderly have high blood pressure, followed by diabetes at 23.3%, asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease at 0.9%, a history of cancer with cancer at 1% and signs of suspected cancer at 1.9%.

According to Dr. Nguyen Thai Yen, Cardiology Department, Gia Dinh People's Hospital (HCMC), if in the past high blood pressure often occurred in people aged 50 and over, now it is often found in people over 45 years old.

Current risk factors that increase the number of people with high blood pressure and make the disease younger are due to a sedentary lifestyle, lack of exercise, unhealthy diet, obesity, alcohol, tobacco, stress, salty eating habits, people paying more attention to their health...

Burden of non-communicable diseases

Thong Nhat Hospital (HCMC) is a large geriatric hospital in the Southern region. Associate Professor Do Kim Que, deputy director of the hospital, shared that the current trend of people's life expectancy increasing leads to changes in the disease structure, including diseases of the elderly.

The most common disease in the elderly today is cardiovascular disease, including blood pressure, atherosclerosis, coronary artery disease, cerebral artery disease, and peripheral artery disease.

Next is cancer, commonly breast cancer, liver cancer, lung cancer. In addition, another group of diseases that accounts for a large proportion in the elderly is metabolic diseases such as diabetes, osteoarthritis and other bone and joint diseases.

The main reason for the increase in non-communicable diseases in the elderly is due to increased life expectancy. In addition, the current lifestyle, which is increasingly less active; life pressure, tension, and prolonged stress can also easily lead to the promotion of the above diseases.

In addition, unhealthy diet, nutrition, dirty food, fast food... contribute to the increase of these diseases.

Mr. Que believes that the above diseases can be proactively prevented, but the most important thing is to detect the disease early. Therefore, people need to have regular health screenings to detect the disease and reduce the burden of treatment.

According to Mr. Que, it is necessary to promote the application of new techniques in treatment, from drugs to treat non-communicable diseases to endovascular intervention techniques with small incisions, to better treat patients and improve the quality of life for people.

More policy needed

MSc. Le Van Thanh, former head of the Department of Cultural and Social Research, Ho Chi Minh City Institute for Development Studies, said that currently, home-based care for the elderly accounts for the vast majority, in Ho Chi Minh City this rate is over 99.5%. Currently, the provision of elderly care services has not met the demand.

Therefore, there needs to be more policies to encourage businesses to participate in elderly care.

Source: https://tuoitre.vn/gia-hoa-dan-so-moi-nguoi-co-10-nam-song-voi-benh-tat-20241103215036991.htm