Healthy outlook needed by middle-aged and elderly

An unbalanced diet is the major cause for inadequate nutrition among the middle-aged and elderly, more than 70 percent don't do enough physical exercises, and more than 10 percent smoke or drink alcohol.

Among Chinese aged 50 and older, 14.5 percent are smokers and 13.8 percent are regular alcohol drinkers.

People in developed regions have a higher awareness of health care and disease prevention and control, with inhabitants of Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen, Tianjin and Guangzhou having the highest scores in a national study of middle-aged and elderly awareness of voluntary health management.

The study was released after International Self-Care Day this week.

"Though people's understanding of regular health check-ups and chronic disease management have improved, the knowledge of balanced lifestyles, common infectious diseases and awareness of vaccination for the three most common infection diseases including pneumonia, shingles and flu among people aged 50 and older in China are still low," said Liu Jue from Peking University School of Public Health.

"We focus on voluntary health management in this study, which researches people's lifestyles, disease prevention and disease management and will carry out targeted education and instructions in the future."

Experts said they found many middle-aged and elderly people have misunderstanding of proper nutrition, are fearful of vaccination and depend on their doctors for chronic disease management and taking of medicines instead of changing lifestyles.

"Vaccination is an important measure of voluntary health management," said Dr Liu Xiaohong from Peking Union Medical College Hospital.

"There are 190 million elderly people with chronic diseases in China. Given the rise of age and reduction of immunity, they are more vulnerable to infectious diseases. Vaccination for flu, pneumonia and shingles are the most recommended for elderly people, which can reduce by 80 percent the possibility of these diseases."