Among more than 233,000 elderly people in Ho Chi Minh City who received free health check-ups, about 57% had high blood pressure, 23% had diabetes, and many had moderate to severe levels of depression and anxiety.
On September 5, Deputy Director of the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Health Nguyen Van Vinh Chau said the above, adding that the health sector has examined and screened for diseases for 19.5% of the elderly living in the area. In August, more than 50,000 people were examined – the highest number since the beginning of the year.
The number of people with hypertension newly detected for the first time through health check-ups was 32,847, accounting for more than 14%. The city also recorded many elderly people with bronchial asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and cancer. Many people with signs of suspected cancer were referred to higher-level hospitals for definitive diagnosis.
The health sector also conducted a survey to assess levels of depression, anxiety and quality of life. The results showed that 0.26% of the elderly had moderate to severe levels of depression and anxiety. 17.6% showed signs of pre-frailty, 1.3% showed signs of frailty, and 2.3% were at risk of falling.
Many older adults need help with basic daily activities such as bathing, dressing, eating, toileting, moving around. Others need help with activities such as using the phone, shopping, preparing food, cleaning the house, doing laundry, etc.
In the last three months of the year, localities have accelerated the progress of medical examinations to achieve the target of 80% of the elderly receiving medical examinations and screening for non-communicable diseases as directed by the Ho Chi Minh City People’s Committee. Currently, Binh Tan, Tan Phu, Tan Binh, District 1, and District 12 have low medical examination rates.
Ho Chi Minh City will provide free health check-ups for all elderly people (regardless of permanent or temporary residence) across the city from the beginning of 2024, after a pilot in some communes and wards at the end of last year. People aged 60 and over will receive clinical examinations, abdominal ultrasounds, and glucose, creatinine, LDL-C, and triglyceride quantification. It is expected that the city budget will only spend about VND150 billion each year to periodically check-up more than one million elderly people to promptly detect and manage treatment of non-communicable diseases.
After the health check-up, people with non-communicable diseases are managed and treated according to an integrated program linked to the health station. The examination results are digitized to be linked to the electronic health record, helping people to self-manage their personal health information, while providing full information to medical facilities when people come for examination.
From this data, the health sector can identify the health and disease patterns of the elderly living in the area, proactively intervene early to increase efficiency, reduce treatment costs, and contribute to improving the quality of life for people.