Replies to LegCo questions
LCQ8: Cardiac health
Following is a question by the Dr Hon Yeung Sum and a written reply by the
Secretary for Health, Welfare and Food, Dr York Chow, in the Legislative Council
today (June 27):
Question:
It has been reported that the number of people undergoing Percutaneous
Transluminal Coronary Angioplasty (commonly known as "balloon angioplasty") has
increased in recent years. In this connection, will the Government inform this
Council:
(a) whether the number of people diagnosed with coronary and other heart
diseases has been on the rise in recent years and whether there is a trend of
occurrence of the diseases at a younger age; if so, of the details; whether it
will conduct a large-scale survey to find out the cardiac health of the Hong
Kong population;
(b) of the respective expenditures on the prevention, examination and treatment
of various heart diseases by the public healthcare system in each of the past
three years; and
(c) whether it will, following other countries' practice, consider launching
large-scale community-wide campaigns and implementing corresponding measures for
improving the cardiac health of the public, such as setting target morbidity and
mortality rates of the diseases, allocating resources for the examination, early
diagnosis and treatment of the diseases, as well as strengthening health
education and promotional activities to avoid excessive intake of low-density
lipoprotein cholesterol by the public, thereby reducing their risks of
developing the diseases?
Reply:
Madam President,
(a) According to figures from 2001 to 2005, the age-specific mortality rate of
heart disease for people aged between 20 and 44 did not show an upward trend. In
order to obtain the health profile of our population, the Department of Health
(DH) has carried out population-based health surveys. From the Population Health
Survey conducted in 2003-04, it was calculated that the prevalence rate of
coronary heart diseases (CHD) among local people aged 15 and above was 1.6%. DH
has also commissioned the Chinese University of Hong Kong to conduct a survey on
cardiac health in order to examine the prevalence of the cardiovascular diseases
and the related risk factors.
(b) DH has strived to facilitate the prevention of cardiovascular diseases and
other chronic illnesses through the promotion of a healthy lifestyle and tobacco
control. The expenditures arising from these activities in 2004-05, 2005-06 and
2006-07 were $60.40 million, $72.40 million and $73.70 million respectively. In
addition, various health service providers under DH with children, youth, adults
and the elderly as their clients have also organised a wide array of activities
oriented towards the prevention of chronic illnesses and health promotion.
As regards the Hospital Authority, the treatment, examination and prevention of
cardiovascular diseases are normally conducted as integrated services and
therefore a breakdown of the respective expenditures is not available. The major
expenditures on cardiovascular diseases over the past three years are shown in
Annex.
(c) DH will conduct surveys as well as monitor the morbidity and mortality rates
of cardiovascular diseases in the population of Hong Kong, with a view to
developing its work strategies for the prevention and control of cardiovascular
diseases.
For the prevention of cardiovascular diseases, it is most important to foster
healthy living habits. According to the estimation of the World Health
Organization (WHO), over 70% of new cases of CHD are related to smoking,
unhealthy diet and inadequate exercise. WHO therefore advises people to guard
themselves against cardiovascular diseases through the adoption of a healthy
lifestyle, such as refraining from smoking, doing appropriate amount of
exercises daily, taking healthy diet and maintaining a suitable body weight. In
view of this, DH will continue to promote a healthy lifestyle to the public.
At present, the screening for cardiovascular diseases is not foolproof and has
certain limitations, such as the occurrence of false negative or false positive
results. False negative occurs when the test cannot detect the presence of
disease in a person with that particular disease, resulting in delay in
treatment. False positive occurs when the test classifies a healthy person to
have a particular disease, thereby causing unnecessary anxiety and follow-up
tests. Unnecessary check-ups are more than a waste of money and time. They may
even do harm to one's health. Therefore, we have no plans to conduct any
comprehensive screening for cardiovascular diseases for the time being.
Having regard to the above limitations of screening, many countries, such as the
United Kingdom, the United States and Singapore, have mainly followed a policy
of prevention and monitoring to reduce the CHD risk factors.
DH has been using various means, such as roving exhibitions, the website of the
Central Health Education Unit and all sorts of publications, to provide the
public with information on the prevention of cardiovascular diseases and healthy
lifestyle. On tobacco control, the Smoking (Public Health) (Amendment) Ordinance
2006 has expanded the statutory no smoking areas to include all indoor
workplaces and public places, as well as many outdoor areas such as public
beaches, escalators, hospitals, schools and the Hong Kong Wetland Park. DH is
also offering smoking cessation service to the public. For promotion of a
healthy eating habit, DH has launched an "EatSmart@school.hk" campaign and a
"Two Plus Three Every Day" campaign(*). In addition, the "Exercise Prescription
Project" is also in full swing. Through the project, DH joins hands with medical
associations and community organisations in promoting physical activity to the
public.
Note (*): To promote health, DH is running the "Two Plus Three Every Day"
campaign to encourage people to eat at least 2 servings of fruits and 3 servings
of vegetables as part of a balanced diet every day.
Ends/Wednesday, June 27, 2007
Issued at HKT 12:15
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Annex to LCQ8