Ho Chi Minh City Department of Health: Update on the health status of the elderly in the city

As of August 31, 2024, the City Health Department has examined and screened for diseases for more than 233,051 elderly people living in the city, accounting for 19.5%. It is noteworthy that in August, 50,604 elderly people received health examinations, the highest number since the beginning of the year.

If in September 2023, with 13,773 people receiving health examinations, the health status of the elderly is distributed as follows: (1) High blood pressure: 7,199 people, accounting for 52.27%, of which, the number of people newly discovered through the health examination process is 1,025 people (7.44%); (2) Diabetes: 2,070 people, accounting for 15.03%, the number of people with high blood sugar levels newly detected through health check-ups is 2,060 people (14.96%), these people will continue to have a second fasting blood test to confirm the diagnosis of diabetes; (3) Bronchial asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease: 367 people with a history of bronchial asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, accounting for 2.66%, through health check-ups, 168 new cases of suspected HPQ and COPD (1.22%) were detected; (3) Cancer: 170 people with a history of cancer, accounting for 1.23%, through screening, 360 people (2.61%) were found to have signs of suspected cancer and were referred to higher-level hospitals for definitive diagnosis. Updated at September 2024, with 233,051 elderly people undergoing health check-ups, the health status of the elderly is distributed as follows: (1) High blood pressure: 134,288 people, accounting for 57.6%, of which, the number of people newly discovered through the health check-up process is 32,847 people (14.1%); (2) Diabetes: 54,217 people, accounting for 23.3%; (3) Bronchial asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease: 1.9% of the elderly have a history of Bronchial asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and 0.9% of the elderly have signs of suspected bronchial asthma or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease; (3) Cancer: a history of cancer with cancer accounts for 1% and signs of suspected cancer 1.9%.

In addition, during the health check-up, the city conducted a survey to assess the level of depression, anxiety and quality of life. Specifically: 0.26% of the elderly have moderate to severe depression and anxiety; 17.6% of people have signs of pre-weakness, 1.3% of people have signs of weakness; 2.3% of the elderly are at risk of falling; 2.2% of the elderly have basic daily living activities that require others' support (bathing, dressing, eating, hygiene, urination, moving) and 7.9% of the elderly have daily living activities that require others' support (ability to use the phone, shopping, preparing food, cleaning the house, doing laundry, etc.).

To achieve the target of 80% of the elderly receiving health check-ups and screening for non-communicable diseases as directed by the City People's Committee, in the last 3 months of 2024, localities need to speed up the progress of health check-ups for the elderly. According to reports from districts, as of August 31, 2024: 05 districts with the highest health check-up rates are: Binh Chanh (47.8%); Can Gio (45.8%); District 11 (30.8%); Phu Nhuan (28.7%); District 4 (26.9%). In addition, 05 districts with very low health check-up rates are: Binh Tan (10.4%); Tan Phu (10.9%); Tan Binh (11.0%); District 1 (11.0%); District 12 (11.5%).

The Department of Health requests the People's Committees of districts, towns and Thu Duc city to continue to strengthen leadership and direction of specialized departments, units, affiliated units, People's Committees of wards, communes and towns on health examinations for the elderly living in the area to ensure full and timely progress according to the Plan set out by the City People's Committee; at the same time, direct health examination facilities to fully implement health examination contents according to the instructions of the Department of Health to ensure the quality and rights of the elderly.

Number of elderly people calculated by area in the whole city who have received health examinations