Up to one in every five Koreans has been diagnosed with hypertension and 9 percent with diabetes, with 90 of them receiving treatment.

On the other hand, the rate of recognizing early symptoms of stroke was low, remaining in the 60 percent range, and that of recognizing early symptoms of myocardial infarction was even lower, staying in the 50 percent range.

The Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) released the results of its “2023 Community Health Survey” on Tuesday.

The Community Health Survey has been conducted annually by 258 public health centers nationwide based on the Community Health Act since 2008 to identify the health status of residents and use it as a basis for local healthcare planning. The 2023 survey polled 231,752 adults aged 19 and over on the morbidity of chronic diseases, including hypertension and diabetes.

Key findings related to chronic diseases show that the prevalence of diagnosed hypertension and diabetes continued to increase.

The prevalence of diagnosed hypertension increased by 0.8 percentage points year on year to 20.6 percent, and the regional disparity increased by 0.8 percentage points to 12.9 percent. The experienced diagnosis rate for diabetes was 9.1 percent, unchanged from the previous year, but the regional disparity was 8.3 percent, a decrease of 1.0 percentage points from the previous year.

Treatment rates for diagnosed hypertension and diabetes have remained high year by year since the first survey in 2008, exceeding 90 percent since 2018, after hovering in the 80 percent range for nearly a decade.

In 2023, the treatment rate for diagnosed hypertension was 93.6 percent, the same as the previous year, with a regional disparity of 28.2 percent, a decrease of 18.8 percentage points from the previous year. The treatment rate for people diagnosed with diabetes was 92.8 percent, an increase of 1 percentage point from the previous year, with a regional disparity of 29.4 percent, a decrease of 14.7 percentage points from the previous year.

Blood pressure and blood glucose level awareness have increased every year since the 2011 survey.

In 2023, the blood pressure reading awareness rate was 62.8 percent, down 0.1 percentage points from the previous year, and the regional disparity was 49.0 percent, up 1.9 percentage points from the previous year. Blood glucose level awareness increased by 2.2 percentage points year-on-year to 30.6 percent, and the regional disparity increased by 4.2 percentage points to 56.6 percent.

Recognition of early warning signs of stroke and myocardial infarction has fluctuated, but no clear trends were identified.

This year, the stroke early symptom recognition rate was 62.0 percent, an increase of 4.5 percentage points from the previous year, and the regional disparity was 41.7 percent, a decrease of 10.9 percentage points from the previous year. Recognition of early symptoms of myocardial infarction was 52.9 percent, an increase of 5.8 percent from a year earlier, with a regional gap of 49.8 percent, a decrease of 5.7 percentage points from a year ago.

In the area of mental health, the prevalence of depression has been steadily increasing since 2018 after fluctuating before that year. The prevalence of stress has remained above 25 percent for over a decade since the survey began in 2008, although there was a significant decrease in 2022.

In 2023, the rate of depression was 7.3 percent, up 0.5 percentage points from the previous year, with a regional gap of 11.9 percent, the same as the previous year. The perceived stress rate was 25.7 percent, up 1.8 percentage points from the previous year, and the regional gap was 20.0 percent, down 1.1 percentage points from the previous year.

The agency will release the raw data of the 2023 Community Health Survey next February after a final review process to be used for policy research and development.