21st Century's Key Challenge: Prevention of Chronic Diseases

Around half of all the adults in USA suffer from one chronic condition such as obesity, heart disease and diabetes, a new report on chronic diseases has found. The majority of these chronic conditions stem from a small number of risk factors that are largely preventable, including tobacco use, poor diet, and physical inactivity (both strongly associated with obesity), alcohol consumption, and uncontrolled high blood pressure. The report indicates Medicare enrollees (the majority of whom are over 65) accounted for US$300 billion in health care spending, over 90% of which was accounted for by people with two or more chronic conditions. Compared with comparable high-income countries, the USA is less healthy in areas such as obesity, heart disease, diabetes, and chronic lung diseases.

Reduction of the chronic disease burden in the USA will require coordinated action, including epidemiology and surveillance to monitor trends and track progress, policies and environments that promote health and support healthy behaviours, healthcare that effectively delivers prevention services, and stronger links between health care and community services.