HRT reports on the situation in Croatia, where as many as one million and two hundred thousand people have hypertension, while ten percent of the population has diabetes and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. These are data from the first such research in Croatia as part of a European project on the incidence of the most common diseases. This year’s World Health Day aims to raise awareness of the impact of the environment on human health.
The most common diseases in Croatia are hypertension, chronic lung diseases, and diabetes
Hypertension, chronic lung diseases, and diabetes are the most common diseases of the elderly population in Croatia, according to data on population morbidity presented by the Croatian Institute of Public Health (HZJZ) for the first time today on World Health Day.
These are data for Croatia collected as part of the Eurostat project “Morbidity Statistics”, with the aim of determining the incidence of certain conditions and diseases as determined by the European Commission.
The collected data shows that almost a third of the Croatian population suffers from hypertension, and this share increases significantly in the elderly population – eight out of ten people over the age of 65 have some of the diseases in this group.
Chronic lung diseases also affect the elderly population, with data showing that one in ten people over the age of 65 suffer from such diseases.
The research once again proved a high presence of diabetes among the population: almost 10 percent of the Croatian population suffers from diabetes, with a rise to a quarter of the population over 65.
High prevalence of mood disorders, anxiety, arthrosis, dementia …
Mood disorders (affective disorders), which were diagnosed in 6.6 percent of the population, also have a high prevalence. They are twice as common in women as in the male population (8.7 percent versus 4.4 percent) and are most often diagnosed in women over 50.
The situation is similar when it comes to anxiety disorders. They are twice as common in women as in men (16.7 percent versus 8.3 percent), and especially affect the female population after the age of 50.
Osteoarthritis has a relatively high prevalence – 10.8 percent of the population, ischemic heart disease – 5.8 percent and cerebrovascular disease – 2.9 percent.
The prevalence of dementia (including Alzheimer’s disease) in the age group over 60 is 2.9 percent, with it being twice as common in women after the age of 70.
The reference period was from 2015 to 2017, data were collected from 1 March 2019 to 1 September 2020. In addition to Croatia, a number of countries took part in the project, including Belgium, Germany, Finland, France, Hungary, Lithuania, Malta, the Netherlands, and Poland.
The publication is the beginning of systematic data collection on the frequency of leading public health problems in Croatia based on prevalence (total number of cases) and incidence (number of new cases), not just on the use of health care, which is a big qualitative step in national health statistics.
“The World Health Organization estimates that more than thirteen million deaths worldwide, including 1.4 million deaths in the European Region of the World Health Organization are related to avoidable environmental factors”, said Primarius Iva Pejnović Franelić, MD, Ph.D. of the Croatian office of the World Health Organization.
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