Every fifth old person has at least three chronic diseases

Every fifth aged person complains about three or more chronic diseases, according to data of the National Statistics Bureau. Among the most frequent maladies that affect old people are related to cardiovascular diseases, arthrosis, chronic bronchitis, biliary cirrhosis. Over 13,300 new invalids were registered in 2005, of them 1,200 or 9.4% are aged 57 and above. The biggest part of aged invalids suffers from ophthalmologic diseases (24.5%), malign tumors (15.8%), diabetes (12.5%), cardiovascular illnesses (11.5%), osteoarthritis (6.8%), and nervous system related diseases (5.6%). Moreover, 91% of them are men. In fact, every third person became handicapped because of cancerous tumors, every forth – because of cardiovascular diseases, and every sixth – because of ophthalmologic maladies. The most solicited doctors among elders are physicians – 16%, cardiologists – 19.2%, followed by surgeons - 10.9% and neurologists – 9.6%. Ophthalmologists are more frequently solicited by urban residents, a 12.8 p.p. difference compared with rural inhabitants. Every fifth elder visited a dentist over the last 12 months.