Essay --

WHO has ranked Malaysia at 31 among 191 countries for the performance in overall health care and was recommended as a model to other developing countries. Government spending on health care was RM (Malaysian ringgits) 1 billion (USD 1 = RM 3.82) or 3.1% of the national budget in 2000 and 4.4% in 2010 (WHO World Health Statistics 2013). Russia, even after spending 25% per person more than Malaysia on health care, has reportedly not performed well as indicted by low rankings in a number of indicators (Babar Z.U.D et al., 2007). Tight control of blood pressure in hypertensive patients with type 2 diabetes substantially reduces the cost of complications, increased the interval without complications and survival, and had a cost effectiveness ratio that compares favorably with many accepted healthcare programmes. (UKPDS 40). Hence, the control of Diabetes, and the prevention of Diabetes related complications will provide benefit to the patients as well as potentially reduce the overall healthcare expenditures for countries and payers (Nor Hasimah et al., 2010). 1.2 HEALTH RELATED QUALITY OF LIFE AMONG GERIATRICS 1.2.1 Definition of HRQoL Prevalence of diseases among geriatrics are usually related to health related quality of life (HRQoL), which is a broad multidimensional concept that usually includes self-reported measures of physical and mental health. Health-related quality of life can be considered as that part of a person’s overall quality of life that is determined primarily by their health status and which can be influenced by clinical interventions. (Centres for Disease and Prevention, USA) On the individual level, this includes physical and mental health perceptions and their correlates—including health risks and conditio... ...esence of a chronic elevation of systemic arterial pressure above the threshold value, which is 120/80mmHg (Giles et al., 2009). Hypertension is a progressive cardiovascular syndrome arising from complex and interrelated etiologies. Progression is strongly associated with functional and structural cardiac and vascular abnormalities that damage the heart, kidneys, brain, vasculature, and other organs and lead to premature morbidity and death. Reduction of BP when target organ damage is demonstrable or the functional precursor of target organ damage is present and still reversible generally reduces the risk for cardiovascular events. The prevalence of hypertension among geriatrics was 62.6% in the community and 47.6% of them had uncontrolled blood pressure (C.Teo et al., 2006). Table 1.3.1.1 below shows classification of the stages of hypertension and its definition.