China is facing a sharp increase in heart and brain illnesses
and the situation is rapidly getting worse, one of the country's
leading doctors has warned.
An unhealthier diet and less exercise have resulted in more
Chinese suffering from illnesses such as high blood pressure,
diabetes and obesity, said Hu Dayi, a member of the Chinese Medical
Association specializing in heart disease, and head of the Medical
School of Shanghai's Tongji University.
He said 2.6 million Chinese died of heart and brain diseases
every year, an average daily death rate of more than 7,000. The top
dangers were high blood pressure, high cholesterol, diabetes,
obesity and smoking, he told a press conference in Beijing.
From the 1950s to the 1970s, the only significant danger was
high blood pressure, but in recent decades Chinese diets had
changed from mainly grains and vegetables to foods containing high
proportions of fat, protein and calories.
Moreover, modern lifestyles involving cars, television and
computers resulted in less physical exercise and more overweight
people, directly leading to more cases of obesity and diabetes, Hu
said.
The World Health Organization estimates China's diabetes cases
will double by 2020 and the country will have the world's second
highest rate of diabetes. More alarmingly, the incidence high
cholesterol had doubled by the end of the 1990s compared with the
early 1980s, affecting every age group. Those suffering from both
high blood pressure and high cholesterol faced a double risk of
myocardial infarction and stroke.
The government needed a long-term health strategy, said Hu.
People over the age of 35 should have their blood pressure checked
whenever they went to a doctor with any complaint, which was a rule
set by the Ministry of Health and needed to be better
implemented.
Meanwhile, education on high blood pressure needed to be given
to communities and companies to raise public awareness with
assistance from the media, business, academic groups and government
departments.
Hu also called for improved exchanges and coordination among
medical branches to provide more comprehensive treatment for heart
and brain disease patients.
(Xinhua News Agency December 14, 2006)