Dr. Janusz Krupa: In Poland, risk groups are not being educated. The percentage of smokers is increasing, and young men are gaining weight at a high rate

The "National Transformation Plan" identifies the risk factors responsible for the loss of the highest number of years lived in health for women and men. What are these factors and what are the challenges for Poland in this context?

I will list the three most important factors. The first and, in fact, the most significant risk factor for our health is smoking. The second factor is hypertension. The third is excessive body weight, or overweight and obesity disease.

If we thought about it pathophysiologically, hypertension is very often a complication of either cigarette smoking or excessive body weight, so I would focus mainly on these two aspects. Alcohol is also mentioned in health risks. It is responsible for a number of diseases.

What health challenges does this raise for Poland, and what can we do about it?

In my personal opinion, the problem is the lack of a prevention system for teaching health-seeking behavior. There is no good education for young people or young adults in Poland. In recent years, many countries have succeeded in reducing the smoking percentage. In Poland, this percentage has increased.

Probably not everyone is aware, but when it comes to overweight and obesity, the group with the fastest weight gain in Poland are young men between the ages of 25 and 35. I have yet to see any programs aimed precisely at this social group, and this is where the problem arises. Obesity is the mother of at least two hundred different diseases, so if we don't deal with this epidemic, we won't be able to deal with fixing it later.