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HK heart disease rates set to rise

An ageing population combined with unhealthy lifestyles and poor primary health care will drive heart failure rates among Hong Kong Chinese up to the levels in the West within 15 to 20 years, a cardiology expert warned yesterday.

The latest figures show that 6,200 people a year are admitted to hospitals in Hong Kong with heart failure, according to Professor John Sanderson, head of the cardiology division at Chinese University.

US statistics show heart failure affects 4.6 million Americans, and 400,000 cases are diagnosed each year.

Professor Sanderson warned heart failure was a global phenomenon but that the rates of increase in Asian countries including Hong Kong were faster than in the West.

'The Asian population is getting older. High blood pressure is very common in Asian communities, and the Chinese community in particular. Therefore, it is inevitable that as people get older with the background of high blood pressure, heart failure is going to rise and get more common. If we carry on in this way, it will not be that long before we catch up with heart failure rates in the West - maybe 15 to 20 years,' he said.

Other causes of heart failure include a high-fat diet, lack of exercise, smoking and obesity.

Professor Sanderson also complained Hong Kong did not have a good primary health care system, so people were not treated properly for problems such as high blood pressure and diabetes, which could lead to heart problems later.

He appealed for more money from the Government to carry out research and data collection on heart failure.

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