One in Four Koreans Has Hypertension... One in Seven Has Diabetes

One in four people in our country has hypertension, and one in seven has diabetes.

According to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency on the 17th, the prevalence of hypertension in 2021 was 28.1%, and the prevalence of diabetes was 13.6%. It is known that 74% of the global population dies from non-communicable diseases, and in our country as well, 79.6% of deaths in 2021 were reported to be caused by non-communicable diseases.

However, about 30% of patients with hypertension or diabetes are unaware that they have the condition. Not only practicing healthy lifestyle habits to prevent hypertension and diabetes but also regular check-ups are very important.

The Disease Control and Prevention Agency emphasized, "If hypertension and diabetes are left untreated, the risk of developing severe chronic diseases that are more difficult to manage and can cause disabilities, such as chronic kidney disease, stroke, and myocardial infarction, increases. Therefore, it is important to recognize the disease early and manage it continuously."

On the same day, the agency held the “17th Chronic Disease Management Forum” to develop policies for chronic disease prevention and management and to derive improvement tasks.

The theme of this forum was "Transition to Daily Life: Current Status and Challenges of Chronic Disease Management Projects," where topics on newly emerging chronic disease management challenges during the COVID-19 pandemic and urgent issues to be resolved at the COVID-19 endemic stage were presented and improvement strategies discussed.

Expert presentations included the current status and challenges of the chronic disease management system (Professor Lee Soon-young, Ajou University School of Medicine), production of chronic disease statistics (Professor Kim Hyun-chang, Yonsei University College of Medicine), and outcomes of hypertension and diabetes registration management (Professor Jeon Jin-ho, Inje University College of Medicine; Professor Hwang Jun-hyun, Daegu Catholic University School of Medicine; Team Leader Kim Eun-ji, Gyeonggi-do Metropolitan Education Center).

Jiyoungmi, Director of the Disease Control and Prevention Agency, said, "Through this forum, we hope to review the vulnerabilities in chronic disease management exposed during the COVID-19 pandemic and discuss various strategies to provide practical chronic disease management information and continuous treatment incentives."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.