Nearly 80 percent of Taiwanese aged 54 or older have at least one chronic disease, while almost 70 percent of people 65 or older have at least two, the Health Promotion Administration said on Thursday.
The figures are from the agency’s Taiwan Longitudinal Study on Aging, which has tracked more than 4,000 middle-aged to elderly people since 2019.
It showed that 77.1 percent of people aged 54 or older had at least one chronic disease.
Photo: Chiu Chih-jou, Taipei Times
Among study participants aged 65 or older, 19.7 percent had one chronic disease, 21.5 percent had two, 16.7 percent had three, 13.2 percent had four and 15.9 percent had five or more such diseases, a recent report said.
More than 40 percent in the age group had a debilitating health condition that restricted their regular activities for at least six months, it said.
The study found that 53.6 percent in the age group had high blood pressure, 41.7 percent had cataracts, 25 percent had diabetes, 22.5 percent had cardiovascular disease and 21.6 percent had high blood lipid levels.
The study found that 21.9 percent of participants aged 75 or older had at least five chronic diseases.
More than half of the 10 leading causes of death in Taiwan are chronic diseases, agency officials said.
People diagnosed with metabolic syndrome are two to six times more likely to develop a chronic disease, they said.
People with metabolic syndrome should focus on prevention, as controlling their condition is key to preventing chronic diseases, they added.
Chan Ding-cheng (詹鼎正), director of National Taiwan University Hospital’s Department of Geriatrics and Gerontology, said that maintaining a healthy diet, exercising regularly and adjusting one’s lifestyle are crucial to managing chronic diseases, in addition to taking medicines prescribed by a doctor.
“It takes time for medication to take effect in the case of chronic diseases, so people with such conditions should be patient and mentally adjust themselves to live in peace with their illness,” Chan said.
“People must not change the dosage of their medication or stop taking it without consulting a doctor,” he said.
He urged people to take advantage of health checks and screenings provided by the government, saying: “Early diagnosis leads to early treatment.”
Additional reporting by Jason Pan
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