This report describes the demographical and epidemiological developments in the partner regions and possible effects on the level of supply and quality of health care services. It is part of the strategy to improve the social capacity of citizens and medical professionals to utilise eHealth technologies.
As the life expectancy increases, the birth number decreases and the generation of the baby-boomers grows older, the demography in the Baltic Sea Region changes. The age distribution shifts to the older ages and the population shrinks. The future burden of disease and the expected need of health care supply depends on the demography. Chronic diseases like stroke, diabetes mellitus or cancer are more prominent in the older age groups.
Many medical professionals, politicians and patients are already concerned about an undersupply in health care. If the ratio of people in need of health care and the people in the working age is growing, a further decline in the quality of services is impending. With the decrease of human resources, efficient technology-based ways to counteract a lowering of quality of services are needed. Information and communication technology have the potential to fill this gap by enabling patients to take more responsibility for their own health and by making the treatment of patients more efficient.
Based on the demographic development and the actual age- and sex-specific burden of disease rates the report includes projections on the future mortality, incidence, prevalence and need of health care supply (in terms of hospital discharges) for several chronic diseases.
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source: http://eu.baltic.net