More than 30 percent of adults aged 40 or older who underwent a government-funded health exam were unaware they had at least one of the “three highs” — high blood pressure, high blood lipids or high blood sugar, the Health Promotion Administration (HPA) said yesterday.
Among adults aged 40 or older who said they did not have any of the “three highs” before taking the health exam, more than 30 percent were found to have at least one of them, Adult Preventive Health Examination Service data from 2022 showed.
People with long-term medical conditions such as hypertension or diabetes usually do not have noticeable symptoms at first, so getting regular health checkups is important for early detection and treatment, the HPA said.
Photo: Chiu Chih-jou, Taipei Times
The main purpose of the Adult Preventive Health Examination Service is for people without symptoms to learn about preventive healthcare and self-health management through regular checkups, understand the results of their checkups, follow up on abnormalities and improve problem areas, it said.
People should not ignore the “red letters” on health exam reports, which indicate abnormal values, it said, adding that they should see a doctor for a follow-up examination, and follow their doctor’s dietary and lifestyle change suggestions or prescriptions for improving their health.
The free adult preventive health exams are offered once every three years for people aged 40 to 64 and once per year for people aged 65 or older (or indigenous people aged 55 or older, or people with poliomyelitis aged 35 or older), HPA Director-General Wu Chao-chun (吳昭軍) said.
Nearly 7,000 contracted healthcare facilities offer the service, and eligible recipients can find them on the HPA’s Web site (https://info.nhi.gov.tw/INAE1000/INAE1000S01), the administration said.
Taipei City Hospital’s Daan Clinic director Song Chi-chun (宋季純) yesterday said that as many people work long hours under relatively high stress, eat many refined and unhealthy foods, sit for long hours and do not exercise regularly, they might not be aware they have one of “three highs” until they undergo a health exam.
People with metabolic syndrome — having three of five conditions: abdominal obesity, high blood pressure, high blood triglycerides, impaired fasting glucose and low levels of high density lipoprotein cholesterol — are six times more likely to develop diabetes and twice as likely to develop heart disease than those without the condition, she said.
The Taipei Daan District Health Center said that among the 44 healthcare facilities in the district offering the Adult Preventive Health Examination Service, 21 are part of the HPA and the National Health Insurance Administration’s metabolic syndrome prevention program, which not only helps detect the condition, but can also assist people in customizing health management plans.
ANOTHER EMERGES: The CWA yesterday said this year’s fourth storm of the typhoon season had formed in the South China Sea, but was not expected to affect Taiwan Tropical Storm Gaemi has intensified slightly as it heads toward Taiwan, where it is expected to affect the country in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. As of 8am yesterday, the 120km-radius storm was 800km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost tip, moving at 9kph northwest, the agency said. A sea warning for Gaemi could be issued tonight at the earliest, it said, adding that the storm is projected to be closest to Taiwan on Wednesday or Thursday. Gaemi’s potential effect on Taiwan remains unclear, as that would depend on its direction, radius and intensity, forecasters said. Former Weather Forecast
As COVID-19 cases in Japan have been increasing for 10 consecutive weeks, people should get vaccinated before visiting the nation, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said. The centers reported 773 hospitalizations and 124 deaths related to COVID-19 in Taiwan last week. CDC Epidemic Intelligence Center Director Guo Hung-wei (郭宏偉) on Tuesday said the number of weekly COVID-19 cases reported in Japan has been increasing since mid-May and surpassed 55,000 cases from July 8 to July 14. The average number of COVID-19 patients at Japan’s healthcare facilities that week was also 1.39 times that of the week before and KP.3 is the dominant
The Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) working group for Taiwan-related policies is likely to be upgraded to a committee-level body, a report commissioned by the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said. As Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) is increasingly likely to upgrade the CCP’s Central Leading Group for Taiwan Affairs, Taiwanese authorities should prepare by researching Xi and the CCP, the report said. At the third plenary session of the 20th Central Committee of the CCP, which ended on Thursday last week, the party set a target of 2029 for the completion of some tasks, meaning that Xi is likely preparing to
US-CHINA TRADE DISPUTE: Despite Beijing’s offer of preferential treatment, the lure of China has dimmed as Taiwanese and international investors move out Japan and the US have become the favored destinations for Taiwanese graduates as China’s attraction has waned over the years, the Ministry of Labor said. According to the ministry’s latest income and employment advisory published this month, 3,215 Taiwanese university graduates from the class of 2020 went to Japan, surpassing for the first time the 2,881 graduates who went to China. A total of 2,300 graduates from the class of 2021 went to the US, compared with the 2,262 who went to China, the document showed. The trend continued for the class of 2023, of whom 1,460 went to Japan, 1,334 went to