Released in time with World Heart Day on September 26, the survey revealed that 43 per cent of people in Hong Kong had either been personally diagnosed, or knew of family or friends diagnosed with heart disease, the highest of the four markets included in the study.

Furthermore, people in Hong Kong are much less proactive in taking medical checkups, with only 37 per cent taking annual check-ups compared with 48 per cent in Singapore and 53 per cent in Thailand and Malaysia. However, 54 per cent of Hong Kong people rated their lifestyle as “healthy” or “very healthy”, a much lower proportion than in Singapore (66 per cent) and Malaysia (84 per cent).

According to statistics from the Department of Health, heart disease is the second biggest cause of death in Hong Kong after cancer. In 2002, for example, heart disease accounted for 14.5% of all deaths, claiming the lives of 4,969 people. This means, more than 400 people died of heart disease every month in 2002.

The AIA Life Matters survey, which monitors the region’s attitudes to insurance and risk, conducted by American International Assurance Company, Limited (AIA), shows that just 9 per cent of people in Hong Kong would consider adding personal insurance coverage for heart disease, compared with 42 per cent in Thailand, 36 per cent in Singapore and 31 per cent in Malaysia. Currently 41 per cent of people in Hong Kong are insured against critical illness, compared with 56 per cent in Singapore.

“The AIA ‘Life Matters’ Index clearly reveals the lack of attention that people in Hong Kong pay to important health issues such as regular screening checks and healthy activities. It also reveals the enormous risk that people unwittingly face by not taking the precautions of adequate critical illness insurance cover,” said Esther Wong, Vice President of Accident & Health Department at AIA.

Illnesses such as heart disease require not only immediate treatment but in many cases long-term ongoing care. With technological advances and increasingly complex medical treatments, critical illnesses such as heart disease are more readily diagnosed and increasingly survivable. However, medical treatment can be costly and long-term in nature.

“An average cost of immediate private treatment including surgery of treating heart disease can be in the region of HK$ 101,400 to HK$140,400*. Ongoing care for two more years can cost in the range of HK$11,700 to HK$23,400*,” added Wong.

AIA is Southeast Asia’s largest life insurer, with branch offices and affiliated companies located in countries and jurisdictions including China, Hong Kong, Macau, Malaysia, Thailand, Singapore, Brunei, Guam, Indonesia, Vietnam, India, Taiwan, the Philippines, Japan, Korea, Australia and New Zealand. The Company has been assigned ‘AAA’ insurer financial strength rating by global credit rating service Standard & Poor’s. In Hong Kong, AIA has also been assigned ‘Aaa’ the highest rating, by premier financial rating agency Moody’s. AIA is a wholly-owned subsidiary of American International Group, Inc. (AIG), the world’s leading international insurance and financial services organization.