The lowering of the eligibility age floor for National Health Insurance (NHI)-funded preventive examinations for adults has benefited 300,000 young adults this year, allowing them to seek care earlier to manage chronic disease, the Health Promotion Administration (HPA) said on Thursday last week.
As of January, the government lowered the age eligibility for preventive examinations from 40 years old to 30, a move that highlighted the government’s hopes that citizens would begin to see their health as an asset to be invested in earlier in their lives, HPA Director-General Shen Ching-fen (沈靜芬) said.
The exams were not a one-time assessment, as hospitals and clinics would provide examinees with dietary, exercise and weight-management guidance, Shen said, adding that, if needed, the clinics or hospitals could refer the examinee to a more capable institution.
Photo courtesy of Tainan Municipal Hospital
According to the agency, adolescents and young adults were less alert to symptoms that suggest chronic illnesses, as they believed themselves to be in prime health, but half of the top 10 causes of death last year were from chronic disease related to the “three hypers”: hyperglycemia, hyperlipidemia and hypertension.
Nutrition and health polls from 2019 to 2023 also show that the three hypers were more prevalent among people aged 30 and older, highlighting the need for early prevention, the agency said.
The agency said that in the 30-to-39 age group, people with hyperlipidemia stood at 18.7 percent, hypertension at 9.7 percent and hyperglycemia at 2.5 percent.
As of last month, the agency had recorded 300,000 people aged 30 to 39 who have conducted their first-ever preventive examination, it said.
The government hopes to discover symptoms and thus intervene sooner to reduce the risk of disease, the agency said.
Preventive examinations for those aged 30 to 39 can be conducted every five years; for those aged 40 to 64, every three years; and annually for those aged 65 or older, the agency said.
The examinations include a questionnaire on healthy activities, body checkups, bloodwork and urine tests, allowing the hospital or clinic to be up to date on blood pressure, glycemia and lipid levels, kidney and liver functions, and general health, the agency said.
Regular checkups can help people identify symptoms of chronic illnesses early, even when the body appears healthy, Shen said.
More than 7,000 hospitals and clinics nationwide offer such examinations, and people can search for information and schedule appointments online, Shen said.
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