Malaysia, home to the largest obese population in Southeast Asia, is experiencing a worrying rise in the number of people suffering strokes and hypertension, reports Tuesday quoted the health minister as saying.
The New Straits Times newspaper said there had been a three-fold increase in the number of people admitted to state hospitals suffering strokes from 2005 to 2006, putting the figure at six Malaysians hospitalised every hour.
"The number of Malaysians suffering from stroke is increasing rapidly and this is worrying," Health Minister Chua Soi Lek was quoted as saying.
"It is becoming common because of our ageing population and our unhealthy diet and sedentary lifestyle," he said.
Chua said 52,000 people were hospitalised after suffering strokes in 2006, triple the 2005 figure of 17,909.
He also said there was a huge increase in hypertension cases, a major risk factor for stroke, with 29.9 percent of Malaysians older than 30 suffering from hypertension in 1996, compared to just 14.4 percent in 1986.
"Some 30 per cent of the adult population suffer hypertension and this is a frightening figure," said Chua, adding that the problem "is scarily becoming prevalent among Malaysians," according to the Star daily.
The minister cited obesity, heart disease, high cholesterol, diabetes, smoking, alcohol consumption and physical inactivity as adding to the risk of stroke.
Chua earlier this month warned that Malaysia could face an "epidemic" of weight-related illnesses as figures showed that adult obesity levels had almost tripled to 12.2 percent of the population in 2003, from 4.4 percent in 1996.
A survey last year found there were more overweight and obese people in Malaysia than any other Southeast Asian nation.
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