Chronic Illnesses Surpass Lung Infections, Neonatal Disorders As Leading Causes Of Death In China, Study Shows

Bloomberg: China’s Increasing Wealth Is Changing the Way People Die
“Chronic illnesses like stroke, heart problems, and lung cancer became the top causes of premature death in China over the last three decades, according to a new study showing health trends that increasingly resemble the U.S. and other advanced nations. The study, published this week in The Lancet, showed those conditions replacing lung infections and neonatal disorders as the lead killers in China. The analysis offers a bird’s eye view of the new pressures facing Asia’s largest economy. As China grapples with more complex and long-running diseases that are expensive to treat, the shift is increasingly likely to drive up its health care costs…” (Matsuyama, 6/24).

Bloomberg: China’s Health Has Reached a Tipping Point
“China has reached a health ‘tipping point,’ with chronic conditions replacing infectious diseases as the leading causes of early deaths in the nation of 1.4 billion people. … In other words, rapid urbanization, diets with more meat and salt, less physical activity, and increased air pollution are making people sick, while advances in health and medical care have cut the rates of death linked to pneumonia, flu, diarrhea, and childhood diseases…” (Miller/Lin, 6/24).

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