A medical study released in September 2004 envisaged that cardiovascular disease is set to pose a major new threat to health and wealth in Asia.

Smoking, increasing obesity and rising levels of cholesterol and blood pressure indicated that an epidemic of inevitable. However, the greatest tragedy of this epidemic is that it is also largely preventable.

The study was conducted by the Asia Pacific Cohort Studies collaboration, combining data from 659,000 participants in 46 studies in nine countries comprising Australia, China, Hong Kong, Japan, New Zealand, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan and Thailand.

Professor Stephen MacMahon, Director of the George Institute of International Health at the University of Sydney, Australia, remarked that “many of the victims will be in the prime of their working lives, since heart disease strikes at a much younger age in Asia than in the West”.

Professor MacMahon also commented that the cost of heart disease in countries such as China is expected to be vast, including huge expenses associated with the treatment of heart attacks. In addition, the loss of earnings for victims and their families will have devastating economic consequences.

Mr T H Lam, Head of the Department of Community Medicine, Hong Kong University added that stroke figures in China are four times higher than the Western world; and although its heart disease rates are manageable at present, they are about to rise rapidly, particularly in urban areas and in young people.