Over the past five years, National Health Insurance spending has increased to NT$4.8 billion (US$155.3 million), while the number of people treated for myocardial infarction has risen 38 percent and the age of patients has decreased, demonstrating that the condition is no longer limited to the elderly.
Ministry of Health and Welfare statistics showed that 48,639 people last year visited medical establishments complaining of myocardial infarction, commonly known as a heart attack.
Men comprised 77 percent of the visits.
Photo: Ou Su-mei, Taipei Times
While nearly half, or 24,247 people, were aged 50 to 69, 13.1 percent, or 6,384 people, were younger than 49, while 148 were younger than 30, the statistics showed.
Mackay Memorial Hospital deputy superintendent Yeh Hung-yi (葉宏一) yesterday said that an increasing number of younger patients have been treated for myocardial infarction.
Citing an unspecified study, Yeh said that 70 percent of myocardial infarction patients younger than 40 have a habit of smoking.
Smoking increases blood pressure and the concentration of blood platelets, which could cause thrombosis and contributes to a person’s risk of myocardial infarction, Yeh said.
Taiwan Society of Lipids and Atherosclerosis director Lee Yi-heng (李貽恆) said that the “three hypers” — hyperglycemia, hyperlipidemia and hypertension — also contribute to myocardial infarction.
From 2009 to 2015, the number of men younger than 55 who experienced a heart attack increased 30.3 percent, Lee said, adding that for women the figure increased 29.4 percent.
Theoretically, estrogen secreted by women prior to menopause protects their arteries, Lee said, adding that the theory has yet to be proven.
While there have been fewer people with diabetes or high blood pressure, there has been an increase with hyperlipidemia, Lee said.
Doctors said that smokers who have symptoms of the three hypers have an increased chance of myocardial infarction when placed under duress, work long hours or if their environment changes.
Rapid schedule changes, such as shifting between day and night work shifts, is a risk, doctors said, adding that drinking at night and waking to work would also increase blood pressure.
Chest pains or cold sweats are symptoms of myocardial infarction, and people should visit a doctor or hospital as soon as possible if they experience them, doctors said.
Beijing could eventually see a full amphibious invasion of Taiwan as the only "prudent" way to bring about unification, the US Department of Defense said in a newly released annual report to Congress. The Pentagon's "Annual Report to Congress: Military and Security Developments Involving the People's Republic of China 2025," was in many ways similar to last year’s report but reorganized the analysis of the options China has to take over Taiwan. Generally, according to the report, Chinese leaders view the People's Liberation Army's (PLA) capabilities for a Taiwan campaign as improving, but they remain uncertain about its readiness to successfully seize
Taiwan is getting a day off on Christmas for the first time in 25 years. The change comes after opposition parties passed a law earlier this year to add or restore five public holidays, including Constitution Day, which falls on today, Dec. 25. The day marks the 1947 adoption of the constitution of the Republic of China, as the government in Taipei is formally known. Back then the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) governed China from Nanjing. When the KMT, now an opposition party in Taiwan, passed the legislation on holidays, it said that they would help “commemorate the history of national development.” That
Taiwan has overtaken South Korea this year in per capita income for the first time in 23 years, IMF data showed. Per capita income is a nation’s GDP divided by the total population, used to compare average wealth levels across countries. Taiwan also beat Japan this year on per capita income, after surpassing it for the first time last year, US magazine Newsweek reported yesterday. Across Asia, Taiwan ranked fourth for per capita income at US$37,827 this year due to sustained economic growth, the report said. In the top three spots were Singapore, Macau and Hong Kong, it said. South
Police today said they are stepping up patrols throughout the Taipei MRT system, after a social media user threatened to detonate a bomb at an unspecified station this afternoon. Although they strongly believe the threat to be unsubstantiated, Taipei Metro police and the Railway Police Bureau still said that security and patrols would be heightened through the system. Many copycat messages have been posted since Friday’s stabbing attacks at Taipei Main Station and near Zhongshan MRT Station that left three dead and 11 injured, police said. Last night, a Threads user in a post said they would detonate a bomb on the Taipei
RSS