The Statistical Service of Cyprus has published its “Health Survey 2003”, with some mixed data on the state of the population’s current and future health.
Among the most disturbing findings, hard exercise is done by only 6.8% of the population, although 27.3% does bicycling or other light activities. 63.8% of the population usually reads, watches TV or does other sedentary activities.
According to the survey 23.9% of the population aged 15 years and over smokes daily. They smoke on average 23.8 cigarettes per day. During the last month of the survey a 86.5% of people had consumed alcohol, for an average of 8.1 days and approximately 1.9 glasses per day.
However, 80.8% of the persons aged 15 years or older consider their health status good or very good.
Other findings are as follows.
*The most frequent long-standing health problems faced by Cypriots are hypertension, allergies, migraines or frequent headaches, arthrosis, chronic anxiety or depression, asthma, diabetes, chronic bronchitis, osteoporosis, cataract, ulcer etc.
*97.8% of respondents aged 15 years or older can perform their personal activities, such as eating, transferring in and out of bed, dressing, bathing and using the toilet without any difficulty.
*mental health status is positive in general, whilst great differences between men and women exist regarding the general psychological status and psychological distress, where men appear more positive, happier, calmer and more able to face their problems compared to women.
*During the 12 months prior to the 2003 survey, 8.0% of people were admitted to a hospital or clinic. There were 74,994 admissions in total.
*Day care was provided to 5.2% of the population during the previous 12 months, whilst 79,516 admissions were recorded.
*66.5% of the population visited a doctor during the previous 12 months. There were in total 2,104,364 out-patient visits by 464,271 persons.
*Prescribed medicines were used by 32.6% of the population, whilst non-prescribed medicines were used by 8.3%.
*Visits to dentist or orthodontist were made by 39.3% of the persons aged one year or older. A total number of 530,001 visits were made during the previous 12 months.
*The majority of the population does not follow a special diet or dietary regime, with 78.1%. The body mass index of persons aged 15 years and over is on average 25.1.
The survey was conducted in households from all districts, both urban and rural areas that are controlled by the government of the Republic of Cyprus.
A total of 1,792 households which covered 5,617 persons responded to the survey. The non-response rate was 9.1% from the initial sample of 1,972 households (incl. refusals and cases where contact with the occupant of the households was not possible).
