KUALA LUMPUR: More than half a million Malaysian adults or 2.5 per cent of the population, suffer from all four key non-communicable diseases (NCDs) namely diabetes, hypertension, high cholesterol, and obesity.
This places them at risk of stroke or heart disease.
Findings from the 2023 National Health and Morbidity Survey (NHMS) released today show that almost 7.5 million adults, or 33.3 per cent of the population, have high cholesterol; 3.6 million (15.6 per cent) have diabetes while 6.7 million (29.2 per cent) suffer from hypertension.
The survey's findings also revealed a high proportion of undiagnosed diabetes, hypertension, and high cholesterol among younger people.
This, said the Health Ministry, is alarming as undiagnosed NCDs among the younger age groups will cause health complications at an earlier age for them.