Through the 2024 health check-up for the elderly in Ho Chi Minh City, more than 49,000 elderly people discovered for the first time that they had high blood pressure.
Elderly people in Ho Chi Minh City receive annual health screenings at medical stations - Photo: THU HIEN
From the implementation of the health check-up plan, early detection of non-communicable diseases in the elderly in Ho Chi Minh City in the period of 2024 - 2025 and the following years, the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Health said that from January 2024 to December 2024, the total number of elderly people in the city was 1.1 million people, of which 327,552 people had health check-ups (accounting for 29.5%).
Previously diagnosed diseases in the elderly include: 46.5% of people with hypertension (152,504 people), 17.1% with diabetes (55,891 people), 0.9% with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) with 2,824 people...
Diseases diagnosed during health check-ups include: 10.21% of people had high blood pressure, equivalent to 49,007 people, 0.02% of people had diabetes, equivalent to 84 people.
Thus, through health check-ups for about 320,000 elderly people, the city is managing more than 200,000 people with high blood pressure, more than 56,000 people with diabetes...
MSc. Lu Mong Thuy Linh - Deputy Head of the Medical Affairs Department of the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Health - said that through the health check-up, about 10% more, or more than 49,000 elderly people, were discovered who never knew they had high blood pressure.
"Thus, if we examine a total of more than 1 million elderly people in the area, there will be about 110,000 elderly people with high blood pressure who do not know it," said Dr. Linh.
According to Dr. Linh, another worrying issue is depression and anxiety in the elderly, especially in those over 80 years old, whose depression rate is three times higher than that of the 60-69 year old group.
"This is an indicator of the need for comprehensive health care programs that include not only medical treatment but also mental care for the elderly," Linh informed.
Doctor Nguyen Thai Yen, deputy head of the cardiology department at Gia Dinh People's Hospital (HCMC), said that high blood pressure is currently showing a tendency to become younger.
Current risk factors that increase the number of people with high blood pressure include a sedentary lifestyle, lack of exercise, unhealthy diet, obesity, alcohol, tobacco, stress, salty eating habits...
If high blood pressure is not detected and treated promptly, it is one of the leading risk factors for a number of diseases later on, especially coronary artery disease (the arteries that nourish the heart).
Spending 150 billion VND each year on health check-ups for the elderly
The plan for health check-ups and early detection of non-communicable diseases in the elderly (aged 60 and over), phase 2024 - 2025, was submitted by the Department of Health to the Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee for promulgation in July 2023.
Accordingly, Ho Chi Minh City plans to spend nearly 150 billion VND each year to provide free health check-ups for over 1 million elderly people to "prevent" diseases from afar, reduce treatment costs and improve the quality of life for the elderly.
This is a step that is considered by public opinion and experts to be completely appropriate when Ho Chi Minh City has a fast aging population but the number of healthy years is quite low.
Source: https://tuoitre.vn/hon-49-000-nguoi-cao-tuoi-tai-tp-hcm-tang-huyet-ap-nhung-khong-biet-2024121116343167.htm
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