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Hungary: Hungary Health Profile 2012

2012/03/13

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Hungary Health Profile 2012

The health status of the Hungarian population has been extremely unfavourable for many years. Regarding certain diseases and causes of death, Hungary is in a negatively outstanding position in international statistics. There has been no considerable improvement in morbidity or mortality indicators during the last few decades either. The average life expectancy at birth is much lower than in the Member States of the European Union, and the high mortality of middle-aged men is especially unfavourable.

The mortality indicators improved in Hungary in the first two thirds of the 20th century, and they were contradictory in the last third of the century. Mortality patterns around the turn of the century reflect this contradictory demographic and epidemiologic recent past.

After the Second World War, the history of mortality of the Hungarian population can be divided into three separate periods: until the middle of the 1960s, mortality declined, between 1968 and 1993 it increased, and it has been declining again since 1994. Life expectancy practically followed the changes in mortality: between 1949 and 1967 the life expectancy increased, between 1968 and 1993 it declined slightly, and has been growing recently, reaching 72.4 years in 2002.

There has been significant improvement in infant mortality, considered to be one of the most sensitive indicators of the epidemiological situation even a few decades ago. The life expectancy of infants in Hungary has improved similarly to the improvement observed in the developed Western countries, although there was a slight delay.

Looking at age groups, it can be observed that mortality indicators improved only for children and young adults, while at the age of 30, or even more between 35 and 64 years of age there was significant deterioration in the male population for approximately three decades. There was a smaller, temporary deterioration in the total elderly population too. Thus in 1993 the number of deaths reached 150,000, and the mortality rate amounted to 14.6?. The improvement started from this trough and resulted in a decrease of 14,000 in the absolute number of deaths, and a decline of 1.3? in the rate of mortality between 1994 and 2002, while life expectancy increased by 3.0 years.

Thus it is fair to conclude that life expectancy has never been as good among the population aged less than 35 years than now, but the life expectancy of males in the 35-64 year-age-group has deteriorated considerably during the last 30 years. The number and rate of premature mortality are rather high, as 40% of all men and 20% of women who died had been aged less than 65 years at the time of death (2002). Life expectancy at birth increased from 69.3 years in 1990 to 72.4 years in 2002.

In the morbidity pattern, the diseases of the circulatory system have very high share, in 2001 439,000 patients were treated in hospitals due to diseases of this category (more than 15% of hospitalised cases). Hypertension is almost an endemic disease in Hungary. The occurrence of hypertension complications, cerebrovascular disease and ischemic heart diseases (IHD) is also high, and this latter one is the dominant factor of mortality in Hungary.

The records of family practitioners and paediatricians contained more than 470,000 diabetic patients in 2001, i.e., 4.6% of the population are affected by this disease, the prevalence of which is significantly increasing with age. The complications associated with the disease, and turning more and more severe with age, only increase its public health importance.

Since 1990, the number of patients with a pulmonary condition other than TB and registered in continuing care facilities has more than doubled (in 1990, there were 1,712, but in 2002 there were 4,591 such patients per 100,000 population). The most frequent acute respiratory disease is lung asthma, which affects all age groups, and two thirds of the cases are caused by allergy.

Tumours represent a principal category of disease for public health purposes, as approximately 65,000 new malignant tumours are detected each year in health institutions that are mandated to notify these cases. Tumours are significantly more frequent among women aged 19-54 (breast cancer, tumours of the colon, the rectum and the lung), while over the age of 55 years, tumours are more frequent in men (primarily because of lung cancer).

Among the diseases of the digestive system, one of the most frequent diseases is stomach ulcer and duodenal ulcer. Ulcer, which may occur in all ages, is most frequent in those aged over 45 years. It occurs more frequently among men than women. Apart from deaths caused by chronic liver diseases (primarily cirrhosis), the prevalence of these diseases is also high. On the basis of family practitioners? statistics for 2001, 319.3 men and 134.6 women per 10,000 population over the age of 19 years had liver disease.
Diseases of the locomotor system are the most frequent causes of inability to work. The most frequently observed locomotor diseases are spinal diseases, arthrosis, low back pain and osteoporosis. The outstanding importance of these diseases is not only related to their increasing frequency, but also their consequences, including their impact on disability, quality of life and mortality.

Over the age of 50 years, osteoporosis occurs in approximately 900,000 patients, and rheumatic arthritis occurs in approximately 100,000 patients in Hungary. Locomotor diseases cause half of the chronic diseases in people aged over 60 years. The bone density figures of the Hungarian population are the lowest in Europe, and the consequential fracture of the vertebrae present one of the highest numbers. As a result of death following fracture of neck of femur due to osteoporosis, approximately 2,500-3,000 patients are lost each year in Hungary.

Regarding mental diseases, the data of psychiatric institutions provide an approximate picture of the population?s morbidity patterns. These data cannot reflect the actual morbidity patterns, because the statistics only contain patients who seek out specialists of psychiatry institutions with their complaints and who have been receiving continuing care. In 2002, 134,791 patients were on the registers, while psychiatry continuing care facilities for children and youth had 17,137 patients aged less than 19 years on their registers. The gender ratio of patients is considered permanent, with nearly two thirds of the patients being women.

Among the diseases registered in psychiatry continuing care facilities, mood disorders and affective disorders occur in the highest number. In 2002, psychiatric continuing care facilities registered 37,022 patients with these diseases. Schizophrenia is frequent too, and it occurs mostly among people aged 20-65 years, and much more women are affected by it than men. A significant number of patients with depression do not turn to a physician, and they are not taken into continuing care. According to Hungarian data, more than 15% of the population has severe depression conditions at least once in their lives.