Majority of Germans feel healthy

Despite more diabetes and other illnesses, many Germans feel healthy

05/29/2013

Most Germans feel healthy. This resulted in the current „Study on adult health” The Robert Koch Institute (RKI), in which scientists evaluated data on the health status and health behavior of a total of 7,238 people aged 18 to 79 years. Accordingly, income plays an important role in the assessment of health. For example, low-status individuals were in a worse state of health and more likely to be ill than high earners.

More and more Germans are suffering from diabetes and high cholesterol
According to study results, metabolic diseases such as diabetes play an increasingly important role in Germany. Since the last comparable study of the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) in 1998, the number of diabetics has risen. Currently, more than seven percent of Germans suffer from diabetes. Another „widespread disease“ Germans are high in cholesterol. „Overall, 56 percent of men and 60.5 percent of women aged 18 to 79 have elevated serum total cholesterol above the currently recommended limit of 190 mg / dL“, the researchers write. In 17.9 percent of men and 20.3 percent of women, the values ​​were even very high (≥240 mg / dl).

In addition to other physical and mental illnesses, the RKI scientists also investigated the occurrence of psychological and physical violence. One in five respondents had experience of psychological violence and one in ten perpetrator experiences of mental violence. „Approximately one out of every 20 participants reported physical violence in the past twelve months, and men significantly more often than women“, states in the study. However, the frequency of perpetrator experiences of physical and psychological violence did not reveal any serious gender differences. According to them, women were more often the perpetrators of psychological and physical violence in the home, as well as in the partnership or family, while men were more likely to work and to work in public places. In mental violence, women were more likely to be victims than men. 60 percent of the victims of mental violence stated, „thereby being severely or very severely impaired in their health“, among the victims of physical violence, three-quarters of those questioned were.

Income affects the assessment of German health
Another result of the study showed that the level of income plays an important role in the assessment of one's own health. Study participants from lower income classes rated their health worse and were more frequently ill than those with a higher status.
Especially in the older age groups, according to the RKI, the assessment of their own health has improved. Only a minority of older Germans has limitations in everyday life. Most of the older people are active and exercise regularly. Generally, there is a trend towards more physical activity, so that a quarter of adults regularly exercise at least two hours a week. However, the 2.5 hour adequate exercise recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO) only reaches one fifth of the population, the researchers said. (Ag)