Hypertension and diabetes are common illnesses that are usually only discovered during a routine examination by the general practitioner.
stokkete – stock.adobe.com (Illustration)
Patients suffering from high blood pressure or diabetes have remained under the radar, due to the decrease in the number of medical examinations carried out during the health crisis. This is shown by the data collected by mutuals, indicate this Thursday “La Libre” and “De Standaard”.
Between 2019 and 2020, there was a 6% decrease in new users (approximately 18,000 individuals) of blood pressure medications and a 7.4% decrease (approximately 7,000 individuals) for diabetes. This is what emerges from a study by the Intermutualist Agency (AIM). The study focused on four groups of drugs (hypertension, diabetes, respiratory diseases and ADHD – attention deficit disorder with or without hyperactivity -) which are easy to identify because they are often only used for single love.
Hypertension and diabetes are common diseases that cause almost no symptoms in the initial phase and are usually only discovered during a routine examination by the general practitioner. During the first confinement in 2020, these non-urgent routine consultations unfortunately almost completely ceased.
The thread was picked up by GPs as soon as possible, but the study finds that there has never been a big catch-up movement in the field of drug treatment. Patients who did not start during the lockdown did not start later that year either. This means that a group of patients with high blood pressure went undetected and untreated in 2020, available data reveals. The same is true for patients who have not started diabetes treatment. And it’s hard to say if there’s been any catch-up in 2021.