OBESITY and high blood pressure continue to be the most common long-term health conditions among Islanders, according to a new report from Public Health.
The multi-morbidity report – produced annually with data from GPs – also revealed that about 13% of Islanders are living with multiple chronic conditions, many of them preventable, which is an increase of 1% from the previous year.
Findings show the prevalence of multi-morbidity – the presence of two or more long-term medical conditions in a patient – is not improving over time and may be worsening among those aged 85 and older.
According to the report, the most common condition was hypertension – high blood pressure – with over 17,600 sufferers. Hypertension and obesity were the most commonly co-occurring conditions, being present in 4,380 people.
The most commonly occurring triad of conditions was hypertension, obesity and diabetes, being present in 1,125 people.
At the end of 2022, there were more than 31,850 Islanders who had at least one of the 12 long-term conditions and 13,375 people had two or more long-term conditions.
The least common condition was dementia. However, the number of these patients rose from 715 to 765.
This rise may be due to an increased ability to diagnose patients with dementia, but Jersey’s ageing population also means there is a projected increase in patients.
Over half of the population over 85 are living with multi-morbidity, while over half of over-65s live with at least one long-term health condition.
Studies show that people with multiple chronic conditions typically suffer a lower quality of life, have more frequent and lengthy hospital admissions, and may be more likely to die prematurely than those who do not have multi-morbidity.
Data for the report is taken from GPs who maintain disease registers for 12 long-term conditions, as set out in the Jersey Quality Improvement Framework.
The 12 long-term conditions
• Atrial Fibrillation
• Diabetes
• Asthma
• Heart failure
• Coronary heart disease
• Hypertension
• Chronic kidney disease
• Mental-health problems
• Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease
• Obesity
• Dementia
• Stroke and transient ischemic attack
