THE AGE FACTOR: Ministry of Health and Welfare statistics showed that 148 people younger than 30 were treated for myocardial infarction last year
Taipei Times
Date: Apr 28, 2019
By: Lin Hui-chin, Wu Liang-yi and Jake Chung / Staff reporters, with staff writer
Over the past five years, National Health Insurance spending has increased to NT$4.8
Cardiologist Chen Mei-ling treats a patient at Taichung Tzu Chi Hospital on Jan. 28.Photo: Ou Su-mei, Taipei Times
billion (US$155.3 million), while the number of people treated for myocardial infarction has risen 38 percent and the age of patients has decreased, demonstrating that the condition is no longer limited to the elderly.
Ministry of Health and Welfare statistics showed that 48,639 people last year visited medical establishments complaining of myocardial infarction, commonly known as a heart attack.
Men comprised 77 percent of the visits.
While nearly half, or 24,247 people, were aged 50 to 69, 13.1 percent, or 6,384 people, were younger than 49, while 148 were younger than 30, the statistics showed.
Mackay Memorial Hospital deputy superintendent Yeh Hung-yi (葉宏一) yesterday said that an increasing number of younger patients have been treated for myocardial infarction. [FULL STORY]
