China ‘wealth’ changing the way its people die

Bloomberg

Chronic illnesses like stroke, heart problems and lung cancer became the top causes of premature death in China over the last three decades, according to a new study showing health trends that increasingly resemble the US and other advanced nations.
The study, published this week in the Lancet, showed those conditions replacing lung infections and neonatal disorders as the lead killers in China. The analysis offers a bird’s eye view of the new pressures facing Asia’s largest economy.
As China grapples with more complex and long-running diseases that are expensive to treat, the shift is increasingly likely to drive up its healthcare costs.
About 90 percent of America’s $3.3 trillion in annual healthcare expenditure is for people with chronic and mental health conditions, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. “Like many countries, China has reached a tipping point over the past three decades,’’ said Maigeng Zhou, an official at an offshoot of the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention.