The Challenge of Health and Aging
Health changes with age - unfortunately it's usually a change for the
worse.
Asia today is expecting to see increasing life expectancy due to
improvements in economic growth and healthcare services, but with
increasing longevity there will come more diseases of old age.
Diseases of old age include chronic diseases like diabetes,
hypertension, heart attack and stroke; degenerative disease of
osteoarthritis, cataracts and cancers. Most important of all are the
lifestyle diseases like obesity and smoking which worsen the risks of
diseases but are however preventable.
Sadly due to the rapid advances in medicine and technology many
healthcare consumers are confused and find great difficulty in making
the right choices in medical services and treatments. What can be done?
Prevention is Best
Everyone knows the wise saying that "Prevention is better than Cure",
but unfortunately many people are unclear of what they must firstly
prevent and secondly how to prevent a disease or its complications.
One approach to disease prevention is not necessarily the same for
another. Everyone has unique health risks based on their personal
genetics, lifestyles and environmental risks. Similarly everyone has
unique hopes and desires for their wellbeing and longevity.
However all disease prevention begins with health screening.
A New Approach
At AsiaMedic, we have developed our own unique approach to customized
health screening called the Health Navigator. Disease prevention is
about personal health risk management where we help our clients focus on
their own personal health risks profile and to develop practical
personal health strategies for continued health.
Unlike the traditional approach to health screening we look at aging
as a disease that is potentially reversible or can be slowed down. In
addition our health screening tests are customized and based on an
individuals risks and not on the statistical risks of a general
population. Finally we use the results to identify appropriate personal
health strategies that keep up with the changing risks of aging. (see
figure 1)
Fig. 1 AsiaMedics Health Navigator
The key to navigating health is developing a personal health
strategy. It is through a careful and detailed analysis of a persons
unique health risks (see fig 2) that we provide a 3 prong approach to
disease prevention.
- Minimizing unmodifiable
health risks - it is important to identify such risks
which include genetic family medical risks, gender specific
risks like prostate cancer in men, and diseases of aging.
Diagnostic tests are carefully selected to identify the presence
or potential of developing specific diseases and their
complications.
- Developing healthy
lifestyles against modifiable health risks - all too
often many of the modifiable health risks against heart disease,
diabetes and even cancer can be significantly reduced through
proper lifestyle changes which include proper control of weight
and body composition, diet, exercise and non-smoking and
non-excessive alcohol consumption and where necessary medication
and supplementation eg hormones.
- Setting health targets or
Key Personal Indicators (KPIs) - Through personal
health target setting (based on the latest evidence-based
clinical studies) individuals become informed, empowered to
become partners in health with the doctors and gain personal
control over their health as they age.
Fig. 2 |