Know and protect your health with a preventive health check-up at Aster Clinics

Aster Clinics offers customised and affordable preventive health check-up packages that help us understand our body and protect it from chronic illnesses

When it comes to health, we always say ‘prevention is better than cure’. But do we really care about our body and health? Studies and statistics do not suggest so.

As per a study published in the National Centre for Biotechnology Information, half of the total healthcare expenditure in the world is expended to treat chronic diseases. It also underlines the surge in lifestyle diseases among the world’s population.

According to the current trend, there is no indication that these numbers will decline in the years to come. On the contrary, the number of people struggling with chronic conditions will increase by manifold times.

What is the solution?

It is time that we take proper action at early stage to save precious lives from succumbing to chronic lifestyle illnesses.

Lifestyle diseases arise due to human actions. Poor lifestyle is the primary cause for chronic conditions such as hypertension, diabetes, elevated cholesterol, heart diseases, etc. Though these conditions used to rear their heads in the middle ages, nowadays, many youngsters in their early twenties are diagnosed with hypertension, diabetes or other conditions.

In this scenario, it is imperative that every adult perform a health check-up once in every six months to ensure they are healthy and fit. Preventive health check-ups help us to diagnose any underlying such as diabetes, elevated cholesterol levels, hypertension, heart diseases, kidney diseases or anything that is affecting our health. Aster Clinics is offering a diverse set of health packages at affordable rates for people of all ages, including kids.

“It is estimated that globally about 537 million adults struggle with diabetes as of 2021, that is about one in ten adults. The numbers are projected to go up by 783 million by 2045. The shocking fact is that diabetes killed 6.7 million people in 2021. Once every six seconds, diabetes is killing a person. This is the same case with other lifestyle conditions as well,” said Dr Roula Bou Khalil, specialist endocrinology at Aster Clinic, Arabian Ranches and Al Warqa

“Diabetes is the seventh leading cause of death and the primary cause for kidney failures and lower arm amputation. It is also a leading cause for blindness among adults. The number of undiagnosed diabetes patients are estimated to be around 240 million,” added the doctor.

According to Dr Vani Krishna Warrier, specialist internal medicine at Aster Clinic, Bur Dubai (AJMC), lifestyle conditions are the easiest to diagnose with a blood test. “A single prick test is enough to detect diabetes. When it comes to lifestyle illnesses, it is important that we diagnose it at an early stage and treat it. Otherwise, it will gradually aggravate and affect other organs in the body leading to life-threatening complications,” she said.

According to Dr Sreeram Gopalakrishnan, specialist cardiology at Aster Clinic, Muteena (Deira), “As hypertension does not have major symptoms, it is often possible for high blood pressure to remain undiagnosed for a long period of time. In such cases the individual does not realise the presence of hypertension unless screening is done. Over time, undiagnosed and poorly controlled blood pressure leads to serious health conditions like heart disease, stroke and chronic kidney disease. Hence, it is of critical importance for those above the age of 40 years to be screened atleast once a year. People between the ages of 18 to 39 with risk factors (smoking, diabetes, obesity, high cholesterol and family history of heart attack or stroke) should also be screened annually for hypertension.”

Undergoing a check-up is worth the time and effort

Like diabetes, other lifestyle conditions are rampant. This is where preventive health check-ups are significant. It is time that we prioritise our health over other things.

“Many people typically book a doctor’s appointment when they are sick or if they are experiencing some health issues. They may not take out the time to book for their annual health check-up because of the busy lives and other social obligations. If many of them feel fit and healthy, then they may not consider seeing their physicians for preventive health check-ups. However, sometimes such ignorance or negligence can lead to patients having to regret their decision in the future, because many of the preventable conditions could have been diagnosed early and complications could be prevented. Also, many of the chronic medical conditions can be managed with simple measures like lifestyle modifications or other alternative therapies. But if ignored, then more complicated or expensive treatments could be required, that is why its recommended specially after a certain age to undergo regular screenings for chronic conditions and always follow the saying ‘prevention is better than cure’,” said Dr Leena Mahana Kapoor, specialist internal medicine at Aster Clinic, Jumeirah Lake Towers (JLT).

visit www.asterclinic.ae.