BUPA International Healthcare Survey : Bupa Health Pulse 2011

Bupa Health Pulse 2011 has released “BUPA International Healthcare Survey”. BUPA International Healthcare Survey is the second annual international survey commissioned by Bupa. Between 22 April and 23 May 2011, the international healthcare group surveyed over 13,000 people from the following twelve countries: Australia, Brazil, China, Hong Kong, India, Mexico, New Zealand, Saudi Arabia, Spain, Thailand, the United Kingdom and the United States of America. Quotas were set and data was weighted so as to be nationally representative by gender, age and region across all markets involved.

BUPA International Healthcare Survey has revealed some interesting insights regarding people’s differing attitudes and perceptions towards chronic diseases and other medical concerns around the world.

The principle finding made evident in the Bupa Health Pulse 2011 study is the fact that many of the people surveyed, regardless of what country they are from, are not getting enough regular physical activity, even if they were aware or in fact suffering from long-term medical conditions that exercise could aid or help prevent. Over half of the respondents (55 percent) told Bupa that they did less than two hours of exercise a week, with nearly 1 in 5 (18 percent) admitting to usually doing no physical activity at all. This particularly alarming when you consider that more than a third of all respondents (38 percent) claimed to suffer from heart disease, depression, asthma or another common long-term ailment, all of which require some degree of modest physical rehabilitation to treat and ultimately prevent against.

Bupa’s international healthcare survey further disclosed the reasons why people were not getting as much physical activity as they’d liked or hoped. The poll cited work commitments as the chief barrier to exercise, with nearly half (48 percent) of worldwide respondents reporting it as their greatest issue, followed then by a general lack of motivation (18 percent), lack of time to work out (15 percent) and cost concerns (17 percent). These obstacles varied sharply depending on the location of the respondent. Among the developed market countries, such as Australia, the UK and the US, lack of motivation was consistently regarded as the main obstacle to doing more physical activity. In the fast emerging economies like Brazil, China, India and Thailand, time and price were the more prevalent obstructions to exercise. When asked what it would take to get people to exercise more, nearly two thirds of all those polled thought that training with friends or as part of a group could help regulate and improve their health and wellbeing habits. Over 70 percent also thought that improved self reliance in setting specific goals and biometric targets could improve their motivation.

Bupa Health Pulse 2011 showed that while men worldwide are more likely to feel overweight in comparison to women (27 to 23 percent response), women are more eager to shed the pounds, with 52 percent wanting to lose weight versus 45 percent of men. Male respondents were also twice as likely are females to feel personally unhealthy (68 to 32 percent affirm). Women reinforced this data by indicating a greater concern about their partner’s health over their own and were more awareness of mental health issues.

According to Bupa’s international survey, around 40 percent of Indians surveyed were classified as unhealthy, while one out of every 10 was technically obese. More than half of the Indians surveyed (57 percent) did less than two hours of exercise a week last year. Of these respondents, it is believed the 25-34 age group will lose the more productivity due to medical illness in the coming years. Diabetes and heart disease have remained the key health concerns among Indian respondents.