EHEALTH authorities have warned that indulging in unhealthy lifestyle attributed to stress, smoking and alcohol, poses health risks. Health findings bared that the so-called lifestyle diseases is the leading cause of deaths among the population in the province. “The leading causes of mortality in the (country) today are no longer communicable diseases but chronic, debilitating non-communicable diseases (NCDs),” health reports said. Heart-related ones, such as hypertension, and other cardio-vascular diseases, cancer and diabetes mellitus are the leading causes of morbidity and mortality, it said. These diseases are called “lifestyle diseases.”

Risk factors  like stress, malnutrition, physical inactivity, smoking, alcohol contributed much to these unhealthy lifestyles, the report said. Rapid rate of 103.26% is posted for the 1,389 cases of heart diseases in 2009. This is very much higher than 67.70% of 861 cases for the past five years, the report said. Other top nine deadly illnesses include pneumonia, genitor-urinary system (541 cases), cancers (all types 531 cases), hypertensive diseases (416 cases), cerebro-vascular (389), stomach and duodenum (264), tuberculosis (pulmonary, meningitis) 207), diabetes mellitus (188) and liver-related (179 cases) of the same period (2009).

Nine hundred four cases of pneumonia are documented in 2009 at the rate of 67.21%, still higher than 53.15% comprising 676 cases five years back. Top ten causes of morbidity, on the other hand, are said to be “infectious in nature” since the Philippines is a third world one where infectious diseases “äre prevalent.” These are the upper respiratory tract infection, diarrhea, lower respiratory tract infection, lymphadenopathy, pneumonia, skin diseases, connective tissue diseases, hypertension, stomach and duodenum and fever of unknown origin. Aside from lifestyle, other risks that resulted to deaths include poor health-seeking behaviour, and compliance to treatment, poor knowledge on health, poor access to laboratory facilities and modalities, lack of health personnel, poverty and financial constraints of the local government units, the report said. (RVO)