Singapore spends $3.1b yearly on stress-related illnesses: Study
Its expenditure is the second highest out of 9 countries/territories
A study has found that Singapore spends about US$2.3 billion (S$3.1 billion), or 18 per cent, of its total healthcare expenditure on stress-related illnesses annually.
This put the nation's proportion of expenditure on stress-related illnesses second-highest out of the nine countries or territories studied in the report, coming just behind Australia's 18.8 per cent.
The other seven were Hong Kong, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, the United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom and United States.
The report, which was produced by healthcare consultancy firm Asia Care Group on behalf of health insurance and services company Cigna, was published yesterday.
Globally, 84 per cent of people surveyed in past studies admitted to feeling stressed, said Cigna's regional chief executive officer Julian Mengual, while 64 per cent reported that they operated in an "always on" environment.
This refers to people feeling the need to engage with work both during and outside office hours, a culture which Mr Mengual said contributes to stress levels worldwide.
The problem is more prevalent in Asia, where 91 per cent of respondents reported feeling stressed and 80 per cent saying they had an "always on" work culture.
"Stress is a big issue... (but) sometimes this is a topic that people don't like to talk about, and we really need to address it to move things forward," said Mr Mengual.
Some physical symptoms are headaches, muscle aches, joint pain, irritable bowel syndrome, heartburn and trouble breathing, while the mental symptoms include anxiety, depressive and panic disorders.
Among other things, it was found that more than 160,000 people here are admitted to public hospitals as inpatients for stress-related illnesses every year, at an annual cost of around US$931 million.
More than 11 million appointments are made with GPs here annually as a result of such illnesses, costing about US$1.1 billion.
The report also presented recommendations for governments, employers, healthcare providers and public and private healthcare insurers to deal with the problem.
Said Asia Care Group's managing partner Thalia Georgiou: "Identifying patients suffering from stress-related illness earlier in their journey and upskilling hospital staff to detect and manage patients with stress conditions are likely to be highly effective in reducing the burden on hospital beds and financing."
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