Hypertension and diabetes are the most recurrent diseases among the population aged 50 and over in Mexico, according to the results released this Thursday of the National Survey on Health and Aging in Mexico.

The survey, carried out by the National Institute of Statistics and Geography (Inegi) in coordination with the Mexico Center of the University of Texas, also showed that six out of 10 people in that age range perceived that they had a fair to poor state of health .

Although the respondents considered that there is an improvement in health coverage compared to 2012, almost two thirds in this age range classified their health status as poor.

The most prevalent diseases are hypertension, diabetes, lung disease, arthritis, heart attack, stroke, and cancer.

According to the survey, until 2018 there were 28.2 million people aged 50 and over in Mexico. Hypertension predominated in 39.9% of cases, diabetes in 22.8% and arthritis in 11.2%.

Hypertension was suffered by 20% of men and 24.9% of women.

While the prevalence of diabetes went from 15.3% in 2001 (13.2% for men and 17.2% for women) to 22.8% in 2018 (20% for men and 24.9% for women).

The survey also showed an increase in obesity. While in 2001 18.7% of men aged 50 years and over were obese, in 2018 the figure rose to 22.7%, while for women in the same age group went from 25.2 to 31.3%.

In 2018, 11.2% of the population aged 50 and over stated that they had at least one limitation to perform activities of daily living such as walking, bathing, eating, going to bed and getting out of bed.

In the case of men, the proportion was 9.5% and for women 18.3%.

For the first time in this survey, it was asked about sleep problems, where 46.6% of women and 32.4% of men reported having regular difficulty falling asleep.

The survey also revealed that this population suffers from depressive problems, as 30.6% of those consulted reported five or more depressive symptoms. By gender, 21.9% of men and 37.1% of women agreed to suffer from these signs.

Meanwhile, the increase in alcohol consumption increased from 40 to 43% in men between 2012 and 2018.